A Short History Of Zionism

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

Israel in Italien (Berlin, 1909).

Jewish Life in Modern Times (ist edition, 1914; 2nd edition,
revised, 1929).

The Ruhleben Prison Camp (1917)

The Journal of a Jewish Traveller (1925).

A Ghetto Gallery (1931).

Britain's Nameless Ally (1942).

The Jews in the War (ist edition, 1942; 2nd edition, revised,

J 943)-

History of the Jews in Vilna (Philadelphia, 1943).
The Zionist Movement (1945. American and French editions,

1946. Spanish Edition, 1947. Hebrew and Italian editions,

I95 1 )-

The Progress of Zionism (8th revised edition, 1946. French
edition, 1945).

Contemporary Jewry (1950).

Revised and enlarged edition of Paul Goodman's History of the
Jews (1951).

A SHORT

HISTORY OF

ZIONISM

by

ISRAEL COHEN

WITH A MAP OF ISRAEL

LONDON
FREDERICK MULLER LTD

29 Great James Street
W.C.l

FIRST PUBLISHED BY FREDERICK MULLER LTD.

IN 1951
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY

THE CAMELOT PRESS LTD.
LONDON AND SOUTHAMPTON

TO THE MEMORY OF

NAHUM SOKOLOW
1861-1936

gionist leader, author, and historian,

President of the ionist Executive, 1920-1931,

President of the ionist Organisation and of

the Jewish Agency for Palestine, 19311935

Honorary President of the Zionist Organisation,

f r? c ,
IP " O -<-'"

PREFACE

THE purpose of this book is to give a concise and
comprehensive history of the Zionist movement
from its beginnings until the present day. It is based
upon the knowledge derived from over fifty years*
intimate association with the movement and of very
many years of close contact with those responsible for its
direction. I was fortunate to be present at the first
public meeting in London addressed by Theodor Herzl
in July, 1896, took part in the Conference in March,
18985 that led to the establishment of the English
Zionist Federation, and have attended every Zionist
Congress since that of 1903. For a period extending over
thirty years, from the spring of 1910, I was in the
secretariat of the Central Office of the World Zionist
Organisation, working in constant co-operation with a
long succession of Executives, first in Cologne, next in
Berlin, and longest of all in London, where I was
General Secretary for many years an experience shared
by nobody else. From the autumn of 1929 the London
headquarters of the Zionist Organisation also formed the
office of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. Despite this
official connection, without which the writing of this
book would have been extremely difficult, I have tried
to maintain such a degree of objectivity as a historian
can observe who writes a record of his own time and of a
movement in which his own convictions are concerned.
Over one-half of this book covers the period during
which Great Britain was associated with Palestine as
the Mandatory Power. The prelude to that connection
was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and the sequel was
the decision of the United Nations in 1947. The states-
men primarily responsible for the issue of the Declara-
tion envisaged the ultimate establishment of a Jewish
State, but it was the United Nations that decided upon
its creation. The long and chequered course of events,

* r

.,.*'

6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

at times heartening and at other disappointing and even
tragic, which occurred between the conception and the
realisation, is recounted in this book in sufficient detail
to show why it was not Britain, but the United Nations
that resolved to restore to the Jewish people its statehood
on a part of its ancient homeland, and also why it was
left to the Jews themselves to implement the resolution.
Even if Britain had wished to accomplish this act her-
self, which would certainly have been preferable, the
sanction of a higher and international authority would
have been necessary either that of the League of
Nations before the war or that of the United Nations
after it (although her unilateral elevation of the man-
dated territory of Transjordan to an independent
kingdom has never been challenged). But despite
Britain's attitude in the epoch-making decision of the
United Nations, she has the gratification of looking
back upon a notable record of civilising work in the
Holy Land and of reflecting that it was under her aegis
and administration that Jewish industry, skill, and
enthusiasm have wrought such a remarkable trans-
formation.

The earlier chapters of this book are largely based
upon my previous work, The Zionist Movement, which
was written in 1944, and which I have carefully revised
for the purpose. I have tried here to narrate all sub-
sequent events and developments of outstanding import-
ance up to the present day, but as I am only a historian
and not a prophet, I have made no attempt to forecast
the future except very briefly, and in terms that I believe
to be justified by the past and the present.

I. C.

LONDON.
January, 1951.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 . . 13

The Zionist idea Early advocates of Restoration
Philo-Zionists in England Montefiore and Shaftes-
bury Six notable Englishmen Advocates in France
Two American Champions Rabbi Hirsch
Kalischer Hess's Rome and Jerusalem -The Haskalah
movement David Gordon and Peretz Smolenskin
Lilienblum and Ben-Yehudah Pinsker's Auto-
Emancipation.

IL THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 . 28
The first societies in Russia The "Bilu" Palestine
through the centuries The first settlements The
Kattowitz Conference The growth of the Hibbath
%ion Movement Societies in England and America
Ahad Ha-am's "Cultural Zionism" The Order of
"Bnei Mosheh" Baron Edmond de Rothschild's
activities Defects of Hibbath %ion.

III. THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 . . 40

HerzPs early career The Dreyfus Affair The
Jewish State The search for support Opponents
and supporters First political steps The First
Zionist Congress The Basle Programme The Zion-
ist Bank Interviews with the Kaiser Jewish National
Fund Negotiations with the Sultan Alien Immigra-
tion Commission and Altneuland The Sinai Peninsula
project The East African offer Visit to Russia
HerzPs last Congress The concluding phase.

*?
' IV, POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM^ 1905-1914 56

Rejection of the British offer The "I.T.O."
"Political" and "Practical 55 Zionists Wolffsohn's
leadership Brussels and St. Petersburg The Turkish
Revolution "Synthetic Zionism'* Transfer of head-
quarters to Berlin Beginnings of Zionist Colonisation
Activities of the Palestine Office Origins of collec-
tive settlements Hebrew schools and language
conflict.

8 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

CHAP. PAGE

V. PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 . 68

The First World War Turkish oppression of Tishuv
The Jewish Regiment First negotiations with British
statesmen Preliminary Zionist proposals The
Formulation of the Balfour Declaration Motives of the
Declaration Interpreting the Declaration Counter-
action by Central Powers Ultimate establishment
of Jewish State The Zionist Commission Arab
representations to Peace Conference Zionist pro-
posals to Peace Conference First outburst of Arab
hostility Conferment of Palestine Mandate.

VI. EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT, 1917-1925 . 83
Jewry after the First World War Establishment of
Zionist headquarters in London The question of
Jewish rights The Conference of 1 920 Establishment
of Keren Hayesod The Twelfth Zionist Congress
Congress resolutions An ambitious budget Con-
stitution and Executive Zionist offices and press
Federations and Parties The W.I.Z.O. The Youth
movement.

VII. PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE, 1920-1928 . 95
The first High Commissioner Character of Civil
Administration Jewish communal organisation
The Mufti of Jerusalem The detachment of Trans-
jordan Arab demands and disorders The White
Paper of 1922 Ratification of the Mandate Arab
policy of non-co-operation The Mandates Commis-
sion of the League British-American Convention
Inauguration of Hebrew University Progress under
the Samuel regime Lord Plumer's Administration
* Furtherance of economic welfare.

VTH. BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME, 1919-1929 . 1 10
Establishing the Jewish National Home Strict regu- 4

lation of immigration The Halutzim Immigration
fluctuations and labour depression The General
Federation of Jewish Labour Agricultural colonisa-
tionMain types of settlement Collective settlements
Functions of Jewish National Fund and Keren Haye-
sod Urban developments and industries Growth of
Cp^iBitterce^Heferew educational system Technical
institute aad University Jewish health services.

CONTENTS 9

CHAP. PAGE

IX. CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 . 123
A decade of unrest Extension of the Jewish Agency
Radical and Revisionist opposition Joint Palestine
Survey Commission Constituent Meeting of the
Jewish Agency Council The Western Wall Incident
The disorders of 1929 The Shaw Report Sir John
Hope Simpson's Report The Passfield White Paper
The Prime Minister's Letter Mr. Lewis French's
Report Settling the displaced Arabs Progress of the
National Home Internal Zionist changes Revision-
ist split and secession Problems of German Jewry.

X. THE ARAB REBELLION, I935~-I939 I 39

Proposed Legislative Council The Arab rebellion
Palestine Royal Commission Royal Commission's
Report The Plan of Partition Government policy
Decision of Congress and Jewish Agency The
League's conclusions The Arab response The
Partition Commission The London Conference The
White Paper policy The last pre-war Congress.

XI. THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1 939-1 945 152

Effects of war upon Zionist movement The land
restrictions Refugee boat tragedies Jewish offers to
British Government The first Jewish volunteers
Offer of Jewish Fighting Force Formation of Jewish
Brigade Group Service on all fronts Fighting in
Greece and Syria Services to Navy, Transport, and
Public Works Jewish losses Agricultural de-
velopments Expansion of industry Scientific and
technical contributions Refugee immigrants and
Youth Aliyah The White Paper restrictions Military
arms trials Unjust sentences and provocation
Survival of appeasement policy.

XIL THE NATIONAL HOME IN PROGRESS, 1939-1947

Increase of Jewish population Growth of Jewish land
possessions Progress of Industry and Commerce
Zionist financial institutions Social and cultural
developments The health system Schools and Uni-
versity Literature and the Arts Political parties
and religious Life.

10 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

CHAP. PAGE

XIII. THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 1942-1947 . l8o

The sacrifices of Jewry The Biltmore Programme
The Labour Party's Sympathy The Labour Govern-
ment's somersault The war on immigrants The
Anglo-American Enquiry A policy of repression
The Morrison plan The Twenty-Second Congress
The Bevin proposals Reference to the United
Nations.

XIV. THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 194

The Special Committee on Palestine A Policy
of Repression The "Exodus, 1947" The Special
Committee's Recommendations The Majority Re-
port The Minority Report The British Govern-
ment's Views The Arab View The Jewish Agency's
View American and Russian Views Discussion in
Sub-Committees The Partition Plan The Question
of Implementation Partition approved in Committee
Partition adopted by General Assembly The
Debate in Parliament.

XV. THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 . . 22O

Obstruction to United Nations decision Aggressive
War by Arab States Establishment of Jewish State
Second Phase of War Third Phase of War
Bernadotte's Report Britain's Recognition of Israel
Rejection of Bernadotte Proposals Defeat of Arab
Annies Appointment of Conciliation Commission
Election of Constituent Assembly Armistice Agree-
ments Conciliation Commission's Conference
InternationaHsation of Jerusalem unacceptable
Israel's Progress and Future.

APPENDICES:

/. A ZIONIST CHRONOLOGT . . .245

//. EXTRACTS FROM THE MANDATE FOR PALESTINE 251

III. IMMIGRATION INTO PALESTINE AND ISRAEL . 254

IV. (A) THE JEWISH POPULATION OF PALESTINE . 259
(B) THE POPULATION OF ISRAEL . . 261

V. ZIONIST CONGRESSES AND PARTT REPRESENTA-
TION ...... 262

VI. THE ZIONIST ORGANISATION . . .263

A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 267

INDEX

270

"And I will turn the captivity of my people Israel , and they
shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. . . . And I will
plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked
up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord
thy 6W."

AMOS ix. 14-15.

"There is a store of wisdom among us to found a new
Jewish polity, grand, simple, just, like the old a
republic where there is equality of protection. . . . Then
our race shall have an organic centre, a heart and a
brain to watch and guide and execute; the outraged
Jew shall have a defence in the court of nations. . . .
And the world will gain as Israel gains."

GEORGE ELIOT, Daniel Deronda (1876).

"September 3rd, 1897. If I were to sum up the Basle
Congress in one word which I shall be careful not to do
openly it would be this: at Basle I founded the Jewish
State, If I were to say this to-day, I would be met by
universal laughter. In five years, perhaps, and in any
case in fifty, every one will see it. The State is already
founded in essence, in the will of the people to have a
State. 35

THEODOR HERZL, Tagebiicher, Vol. II, p. 24.

CHAPTER I

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM

1695-1882

THE ZIONIST IDEA

E essence of the Zionist idea, the re-establishment
of the Jews as a nation in Palestine, instinctively
came into being immediately after the destruction of
Judaea by the Romans. No sooner had the Jews lost
their independence, which had lasted over 1,200 years,
than they began to yearn and pray for its revival. The
belief in the restoration of Zion acquired the position of
a cardinal principle of the Jewish faith and became an
all-pervasive element in Jewish life. Prayers for the
rebuilding of Jerusalem not only recurred in the three
regular services of the day and in the elaborate grace
after every meal, but were interwoven in all parts of the
liturgy. They were a familiar refrain throughout the
year on Sabbaths, on festivals, and on fast-days. No
preacher ever concluded his sermon without the Hebrew
invocation. "And may the Redeemer come unto Zion!"
to which the whole congregation responded with a
fervid "Amen!" No marriage ceremony was solemnised
without expressing the wish that "soon may there be
heard in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusa-
lem, the voice of joy and gladness!" No mourner was
comforted without being reminded of "all those that
mourn for Zion and Jerusalem." No house was dedicated
without voicing the>hope for the speedy dedication of the
Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And twice a year, at the
domestic celebration of the Passover and at the termin-
ation df the Day of Atonement, all who were loyal to the
traditions of their people declared with sincere emotion:
"Next year in Jerusalem!"

Throughout the centuries of their dispersion, the Jews
not only prayed for the return to Zion, but longed for
it with unabating fervour. That was why, on so many

14 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

occasions in the Middle Ages, Rabbis, poets, and other
pietists, braving all the hardships and perils of the time,
went on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, to spend their
declining years in religious study and to be buried there.
Few episodes in Jewish history are so moving as the last
journey of Jehuda Halevi, that divinely gifted poet,
whose sublime elegies on Zion are chanted in synagogues
on the Fast of Ab, and whose fate after leaving Egypt
for the haven of his desires is wrapped in mystery and
crowned with legend. And it was also because of the
impatient yearning for the return that whenever a false
Messiah issued his call and there were many during the
first seventeen centuries after the fall of Judaea Jews
responded credulously and enthusiastically, glimpsing a
glorious vision that was soon followed by the gloom of
despair.

EARLY ADVOCATES OF RESTORATION

It was not until after the middle of the nineteenth
century that the first practical steps were taken to convert
the ideal into reality, for until then Jews had been un-
able, owing to political impotence and the difficulties of
organisation, to engage in any concerted action. The
mere fact that they bestirred themselves, after so pro-
longed an interval, to organise their return, was a
testimony to the unconquerable ardour with which they
clung to the idea and to their faith in the possibility of
its realisation. Their initial attempts were preceded by
the recurring advocacy of their return made by a
number of both Jews and non-Jews of eminence. The
earliest advocates were those Christian mUlenarians in
this country in the days of Cromwell, who urged the
readmission of the Jews to England, because they be-
lieved that the coming of the Messiah, who would lead
the Jews back to their ancestral home and usher in the
"Kingdom of the Saints 33 that would endure a thousand
years, would not take place until the Jews were dispersed
in all lands, and they must therefore be found in England

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 15

The first advocate of the idea on a purely secular basis
was probably the Danish merchant, Oliger Paulli, who
submitted elaborate schemes in 1695 to William III of
England, Louis XIV of France, and other European
monarchs. Similar proposals were made by the Marquis
de Langallerie, who, in 1714, began negotiations with
the Turkish Ambassador at The Hague; and later,
in 1797, by the Prince de Ligne, who published a
lengthy memorandum, in which he argued that the re-
establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine would
not only benefit that country and the Jews in it, but
would also improve the position of the Jews in the
Diaspora.

By far the most notable proposal before the end of the
eighteenth century was that made by Napoleon Bona-
parte in the course of his campaign against Egypt and
Syria. After he began the siege of Acre, in April, 1799,
he issued a proclamation to all Jews to rally under his
banners "in order to re-establish ancient Jerusalem/ 5 He
called them "unique nation' 5 and "rightful heirs of
Palestine/ 3 referred to the country as their "patrimony/ 5
and declared that the moment had come, which might
not return for thousands of years, to claim their "political
existence as a nation among the nations. 55 But a month
after the issue of this proclamation. Napoleon, without
having entered Jerusalem or even penetrated to Acre,
set out on his return to France, probably before his offer
had reached any important Jewish community. In all
probability he had been prompted to make his appeal
by a letter addressed by a Jew to his brethren in the
previous year. In this letter the anonymous writer 1 had
pointed out that nine years after the issue of the Declara-
tion of Human Rights, the hatred of the Jews by the
nations had not lessened, and he argued that the yoke
resting upon them would not be removed until they
regained their rank as a nation among the other nations
of the world by rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem.

1 It is iHicertain whether he was a French or Italian Jew. See N. Sokolow's
Histon (/J^ionism, Vol. II, pp. 220-2, and N. M. Gelber, Vorgeschichte des Zwnimw,
pp. 38-41.

1 6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

PHILO-ZIONISTS IN ENGLAND

In England the idea of the restoration found frequent
championship from the beginning of the nineteenth
century in the most varied circles theological, literary,
and political. Theologians wrote pamphlets in which
they based their advocacy upon the Biblical promises
and were partly moved by the hope that the Jews, on
their return to Palestine, would be converted to Christ-
ianity. In the literary sphere the idea was popularised
in the Hebrew Melodies of Lord Byron, who gave poignant
expression to the homelessness of the Jews in the famous
lines:

The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country, Israel but the grave.

Benjamin Disraeli, who had travelled in the Near East as
a young man, revealed his sympathy with the Jewish
national idea in two romances, David Alroy and Tancred,
and George Eliot made it the central theme of her
famous novel, Daniel Deronda.

MONTEFIORE AND SHAFTESBURY

Of the various personalities who began to show prac-
tical interest in the earlier half of the nineteenth century
in the settlement of Jews in Palestine, the first and most
distinguished was the great humanitarian, Sir Moses
Montefiore, who made the first of his pilgrimages to the
country in 1827. Between that date and 1874 when, at
the age of ninety, he made his seventh and last visit to
Jerusalem, he devoted much thought and energy to the
social and economic betterment of the Jews in the Holy
Land and provided funds for the purpose. Indeed, he
was seriously concerned with their welfare to the aid of
liis days, and his centenary was celebrated by the Sir
Moses Montefiore Testimonial Committee by the erec-
tion of many houses and other buildings in Jerusalem,

piore remarkable was the interest' displaced -by
;; Sltaftslitity, ; tile statesman "' and social reformer,

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 1 7

who, in 1838, pleaded for a Jewish settlement in Palestine
under the guarantee of the Great Powers and wrote an
article on the question in the Quarterly Review. In 1840,
when there was a conference in London to discuss the
future of Palestine and Syria, Lord Shaftesbury addressed
a memorandum on the subject to the Foreign Secretary,
Lord Palmerston, and The Times wrote that "the pro-
position to plant the Jewish people in the land of their
fathers" was "no longer a mere matter of speculation,
but a serious political consideration." Palmerston was
not unfavourable, but there was no Jewish organisation
capable of dealing with so stupendous a problem, and
he therefore manifested his sympathy by giving instruc-
tions to the British Consul in Jerusalem to accord official
protection to the Jews in Palestine a concession that
may be regarded as the forerunner of the Balfour Declara-
tion of 1917.

SIX NOTABLE ENGLISHMEN

Several other Englishmen took an active interest in the
question. Colonel Charles Henry Churchill (grandson of
the fifth Duke of Marlborough), an officer on the staff of
the Allied Army which had compelled the Viceroy of
Egypt, Mehemet AH, to withdraw from Palestine, wrote
a letter in 1841 to Montefiore, urging the resettlement of
the Jews in the country; but the Jewish Board of Deputies
of which Montefiore was President, instructed him to
reply that the Board was precluded from taking action.
Another British military officer, Colonel George Gawler,
accompanied Montefiore on a visit to Palestine in 1849,
and four years later renewed his proposals that Jewish
settlements should be promoted there by England* In
the last quarter of the nineteenth century four other
Ejaglshmea displayed an enthusiastic interest in the idea
of the restoration* General Sir Charles Warroa proposed
th$ formation of a chartered company to obtain a con-
cession from the Sultan for a Jewish settlement with
eveatwal s^gOvernmejat. Colonel G* JL Gonder spoke
wrote in support of the idea indefetigably for some

B

1 8 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

decades. Sir Edward Cazalet, who came of a Huguenot
family (and whose grandson, the late Colonel Victor
Cazalet, was chairman of the Parliamentary Palestine
Committee), urged a large settlement of Jews under
British protection and also suggested the establishment
of a Jewish University in Jerusalem.

More notable than these was the writer and traveller,
Laurence Oliphant (1829-1888), who projected a large
Jewish settlement in Transjordan, but failed to obtain
the Sultan's consent. He visited Palestine twice, accom-
panied by his Jewish secretary, Naphtali Herz Imber
(1856-1909), the author of the Jewish national anthem,
"Hatikvah," and took the keenest interest in the Jewish
development of the country to the end of his days.
Oliphant also went to Eastern Europe to distribute the
money of the Mansion House Relief Fund among the
Jewish victims of pogroms, and discussed Jewish ques-
tions with leaders of the Hibbath ion ("Love of Zion")
movement in Russia, Austria, and Rumania. His last
years were spent at Haifa, where he was untiring in the
help that he gave to Jewish settlers in the neighbourhood.

ADVOCATES IN FRANCE

In France, too, there were exponents of the idea. The
historian, Joseph Salvador (1796-1873), who was the
undisputed intellectual leader of French Jewry in the
latter part of his life, published in 1860 a work entitled
Paris, Rome and Jerusalem, in which he urged the holding
of a Congress of the Powers for the reinstating of his
people in their ancient land. Twenty years earlier there
had appeared a book by the private secretary of Napo-
leon III, Ernest Laharanne, who pleaded for the
establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine and em-
phasised the great cultural benefits that the Jews would
coiifbr upon the Near East. And the founder of the
ItatornationaJ Red Gross, Jean Henri Dunant, was Hke-
'.aiji i enthusiasfc i.wfro,, in 1876, created the first

'V, ' - , ' ,

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 IQ

TWO AMERICAN CHAMPIONS

On the other side of the Atlantic, among the Jews in
the United States, the idea of the restoration also found
two notable champions before Zionism had become an
organised movement. The first was Mordecai Manuel
Noah (17951851)3 who had occupied various posts in
the American Government service. He originally pro-
posed a Jewish colony on Grand Island, near Buffalo,
but after realising the impracticability of the scheme, he
became an ardent advocate of the restoration to Pales-
tine. In an address that he delivered in New York in
1844 he urged that it was the duty of Christians to help
the Jews to regain the land of their fathers, and he
received a letter from John Adams, the second President
of the United States, who wrote: "I really wish the Jews
again in Judaea as an independent nation. 5 ' The other
American advocate was the gifted poetess, Emma
Lazarus (1849-1887), who, deeply stirred by the
Russian pogroms and the influx of refugees into
America, poured out her soul in a succession of poems,
published under the titles: Songs of a Semite, Ey the Waters
of Babylon, and The Banner of the Jew. She also wrote an
Epistle to the Hebrews, in which she roused the religious
and national consciousness of American Jewry, and her
name is immortalised by her lines of welcome to the
homeless refugees inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in
New York Harbour.

While the idea of the resettlement of the Jews in their
ancient land had numerous adherents in the Western
world, a movement for its realisation began to develop
among the Jews in Central and Eastern Europe from
about the middle of the nineteenth century. These
protagonists were more strongly moved than the
advocates in England, France, or America, for they were
itapeUed by more powerful motives: religious conviction,
national consciousness, and personal experience of the
intolerance to which their people were exposed in the
Diaspora. For them the restoration to Palestine was not

20 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

a project for the benefit of some remote group of people,
but a matter of vital concern to their own communities;
they were not interested in the political advantages that
might accrue to some Power, but wished to see the
realisation of eighteen hundred years of prayer.

RABBI HIRSGH KALISCHER

The first and most distinguished of these advocates of
practical activity was an orthodox Rabbi, Zevi Hirsch
Kalischer (1795-1874). He occupied the position of
Rabbi at Thorn (in East Prussia) for forty years without
a salary 3 living principally on a shop kept by his wife.
He was a Talmudical authority of great repute and
author of commentaries on the Pentateuch and the
Shulchan Aruch* As early as 1830 he wrote to his former
teacher, the famous Rabbi Akiba Eger, on the necessity
of the return to Palestine, and several years later entered
into correspondence on the subject with Baron Amschel
Mayer Rothschild, Sir Moses Montefiore, and other
notabilities. In 1843 he published his Emunah Teshara
("The Right Faith") in two parts, in which he ex-
pounded his system of enlightened orthodoxy, and in
1 86 1 he issued a third part, Driskath %ion ("The Qjiest of
Zion"). The views concerning Palestine that Kalischer
expressed in this book seemed so advanced to his con-
temporaries that it required much learning and dia-
lectical argument to convince some Rabbis that his
position was strictly orthodox. His three main theses,
sustained by a great array of Biblical texts and Tal-
jtnudical dicta, were: That the salvation of the Jews, as
foretold by the prophets, can come only in a natural
way by self-help, and does not need the advent of the
Messiah; that the colonisation of Palestine should be
advocated and undertaken without delay; and that the
tfevixral of sacrifices ia the Holy Land at the present day
was adimssifcle. He urged that a^ society of rich Jews
9houjj& vJ^e"; formed to : ujicjertafce . the colonisation of

1 Authoritative religious code-book compiled by Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-

i * . ' ' n V* ,**,>* i

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 21

Palestine; that many Jews from Russia, Poland, and
Germany should be helped by the society to settle on the
land; that a guard of able-bodied young Jews should be
trained to protect the settlers from attacks by the
Bedouin; and that an agricultural school should be
founded in Palestine to educate Jewish boys and girls in
farming and in secular subjects.

Kalischer convened a conference at Thorn of Rabbis
and influential laymen, to whom he submitted his plan
for practical work. One of its results was the establish-
ment in 1 86 1 of the first Zionist society, in Frankfurt-on-
the-Oder, but as this society met with difficulties it was
transferred in 1864. to Berlin, where it was organised as
the "Society for the Colonisation of the Land of Israel. 35
A more important result was the establishment in 1870,
in response to the insistent requests of Kalischer, of the
first Jewish agricultural school in Palestine. This school,
called Mikveh Israel, was built near Jaffa by the Alliance
Israelite, the French Jewish philanthropic organisation,
which was founded in 1860. Its creation owed much to
Charles Netter (1826-1882), a leading member of the
Central Committee of the Alliance, who obtained the
requisite permit from the Sultan, spent three years in
supervising the organisation of the school, and died at
Mikveh Israel. The school, which exists to the present
day, disappointed first expectations, as most of its trained
pupils emigrated to Egypt or America, but it has played
a useful part in the agricultural education of the youth.

HESS'S "ROME AND JERUSALEM"

Another outstanding protagonist in Germany, but of
quite a different character, was Moses Hess, who wrote
the first critical exposition of the bases of Jewish national-
ism. Born at Bonn in 1812, and brought up in a religious
atmosphere, he threw himself at an eairly age into the
maelstrom of political life as a journalist and speaker.
From a National Liberal he became an advanced
Socialist Democrat and a fellow-worker of Karl Marx,

24, A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

aggressive in their anti-Rabbinic attitude and preached
what was virtually assimilation. They largely influenced
intellectual circles, especially university students, and
their movement was in the ascendant when the vision
which it had propagated was suddenly and brutally
shattered by the pogroms of 1881-82. So far from the
Jews in Russia having achieved emancipation through
their pursuit of Westernisation,, they had become the
bleeding victims of Tsarist barbarism. The Haskalah had
proved a will-o'-the-wisp, and the bitter reaction which
resulted caused its followers to turn their thoughts
seriously to the Jewish national idea.

DAVID GORDON AND PERETZ SMOLENSKJN

There were some Maskilim> however, who did not wait
for massacres to be disillusioned: they had advocated the
return to Zion many years earlier. The first was David
Gordon (1826-1886), who was attached to the Hebrew
paper Hamaggid, published in Lyck (East Prussia), and
wrote a number of essays in it in 1860, in which he
unfolded the basic principles of Jewish nationalism in
connection with the renaissance of Palestine. He became
the owner of the paper in 1882 and made it the principal
organ of the Hibbath ion movement.

A more influential champion of Jewish nationalism in
the pre-pogrom days was Peretz Smolenskin (1842-
1885), novelist and journalist, who began his literary
career in the columns of Hamelitz, which was published
in Odessa. After settling in Vienna, Smolenskin began to
issue Ms monthly journal Hashalw, which attracted all
the leading Hebrew writers of the day and rendered
epoch-making services to the Hebrew language and its
literature. He combated traditional orthodoxy and
with equal vigour, assailed the Mendels-
view that the Jews were only a religious com-

munity and not a people, maintained that the principal

' p^p^Vwifg 'tfup Jewi^i'-peplplei, was the IJc?l>rew

Fal^lipiaB, idea with

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 25

missionary fervour. In 1873 he wrote his Am Olam ("The
Eternal People"), a reasoned exposition of Jewish
nationalism, which produced a profound impression
upon the Jews in Russia and other countries of Eastern
Europe. He reinforced his writing by practical efforts:
he discussed plans with Laurence OKphant, helped to
form the first Jewish students 3 nationalist society in
Vienna under the name of "Kadimah" (which means
both "Eastward" and "Forward"), and carried on a
busy correspondence until cut off by consumption at
Meran.

LILIENBLUM AND BEN-YEHUDAH

Smolenskin was staunchly supported by another lead-
ing writer, Moses Leib Lilienblum (1843-1910), who
became a regular contributor to Hashahar from 1870, the
two forming the most notable representatives of the
transition from the Haskalah to the nationalist movement.
Observing the flight of Jews from Russia to America
after the pogroms of 1881, and realising that that was no
proper solution of the Jewish question, Lilienblum threw
himself into the campaign for the national idea with the
utmost ardour, wrote a brochure on "The Rebirth of the
Jewish People in the Land of its Ancestors," and con-
tinued an indefatigable fighter for the cause to the end
of his life. Another contributor to Hashahar was EHezer
ben-Yehudah, whose original name was Perlman (1857-
1922). He wrote articles in 1879 pleading not only for
the return of the Jews to Palestine, but also for the revival
of Hebrew as a living tongue, and he settled in Jerusalem
two years later to become the pioneer in the use of this
language as the vernacular.

PINSKER'S "AUTO-EMANCIPATION"

The most powerful and resounding plea that came
from Russia appeared in 1882 in the form of an anonym-
ous pamphlet in German, called Auto-Emancipation,
which was sub-titled "An Admonition to Ms Brethren,

26 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

by a Russian Jew." The author was an Odessa physician,
Dr. Leon Pinsker (1821-1891). He was the son of a
Haskalah writer, Simha Pinsker, and one of the founders
of the "Society for the Dissemination of Culture among
the Russian Jews/ 5 but the anti-Jewish policy of the
Russian Government compelled him later to abandon the
assimilationist standpoint and radically to revise his view
of the Jewish future. His Auto-Emancipation was the most
searching analysis of the Jewish situation that had yet
been written, and by reason of its penetrating insight,
breadth of outlook, and pregnant style, it produced a
more deep and lasting impression and influenced a far
wider circle than any previous advocacy of the same idea.
Pinsker summed up the helpless and humiliating
position of the Jews in the following striking aphorisms:

"We do not count as a nation among the other nations, and we
have no voice in the council of the peoples, even in affairs that
concern ourselves. Our fatherland is an alien country, our unity
dispersion, our solidarity the general hostility to us, our weapon
humility, our defence flight, our originality adaptability, our future
to-morrow. What a contemptible role for a people that once had
its Maccabees!"

It was because the Jews were not a living nation, but
everywhere aliens, wrote Pinsker, that they were despised.
Civil and political emancipation was not sufficient to
raise them in the estimation of other peoples. The only
proper remedy was the creation of a Jewish nationality,
of a people living on its own soil; that was the auto-
emancipation of the Jews, their emancipation as a
nation among nations by the acquisition of a home of
their own. In order that they should not be obliged to
wander from one exile to another, they must have an
extensive and productive place of refuge, a gathering
centre of their own, which their ablest representatives
men of finance, science, and affairs, statesmen and
publicists should combine to create. Existing organisa-
ttoqs should convene a national congress or select a
'/ which should <teqkle" which' 1 was- the more

allow tie

FORERUNNERS OF ZIONISM, 1695-1882 27

settlement of several millions/ 3 Pinsker had an open
mind at first on the question of territory, but soon be-
came a convinced supporter of Palestine. He proposed
that the suggested directorate, in conjunction with a
group of capitalists, should form a limited company,
which should buy a large tract of land. Part of this should
be sold to individual Jews at a little above cost price,
and the proceeds of the sales, together with the yield of
a national subscription, should be used by the directorate
as a fund for the settlement of poor immigrants. He fully
realised that the success of the plan would depend upon
the support of governments, but if that were obtained
they would have a refuge politically assured. His
pamphlet made history, for although it did not achieve
its ambitious purpose, it led to the first practical efforts
to realise the national idea.

CHAPTER II

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT
1882-1895

THE FIRST SOCIETIES IN RUSSIA

first response to the various appeals to return to
Palestine was made by the Jews of Russia. The hopes
in which many had indulged, that they would achieve
civil equality and just treatment like their brethren in
Western Europe, were blasted after the assassination of
Alexander II in 1881, when a period of intensified
reaction set in, accompanied by the first blizzard of
pogroms that became a sinister feature of the Tsarist
tyranny. This reign of terror, together with a further
crop of restrictive laws, compelled thousands of Jews
who had previously believed in the coming of better
times to abandon that hope and to look for salvation in
other directions. Large numbers hurriedly emigrated to
the United States as a sure and quick way to freedom and
safety, and hosts of others, made wise by bitter experi-
ence, turned to the Jewish national idea. The enthusiasm
for "enlightenment" collapsed, and its place was taken
by a new movement called Hibbath %ion s the "Love of
Zion."

In a great number of Jewish centres societies were
formed of Hoveve %ion, or "Lovers of Zion," who dis-
cussed the question of settling in Palestine as an immedi-
ate and practical problem and urged the study of
Hebrew as a living language. These societies, which met
ki secret and at the risk of arrest by the police, were
headed by resolute and influential personalities, mostly
professional men, communal leaders and Rabbis, such
as Leon Pinsker in Odessa, the writers Joseph Finn and
Judah Leo Levanda in Viba, the historian Saul Pinhas
-("Sliefe* 1 *) ',fai Warsaw, Rabbi Samuel

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 29

Mohilever in Bialystok, and Dr. Max Mandelstamm in
Kiev. The youth, and, above all, the students flocked to
the movement with particular ardour.

THE "BILU"

A group of twenty-five Jewish students of the Kharkov
University toured through Russia and recruited five
hundred enthusiasts, fellow-students and others, who
were eager to go out to Palestine at once as pioneers on
the land, and to dedicate their lives to the realisation of
the national ideal. They adopted as their motto the words
from Isaiah, 1 Beth Jacob lechu ve-nelcha ("O house of
Jacob, come ye and let us go forth"), and were called
after the initial letters "Bilu." They transferred their
committee from Kharkov to Odessa, and sent delegates
to Constantinople to negotiate for the purchase of land
in Palestine, but without any result. Efforts for the same
purpose made by Sir Edward Cazalet and by Laurence
Oliphant, who had met the would-be emigrants at
Brody (Galicia) in the course of his relief mission to the
victims of the pogroms, were likewise of no avail. The
Turkish Government, fearing a Jewish invasion, issued
a prohibition against immigration into Palestine, and
the Russian Government forbade a continuance of
emigration propaganda. The intended exodus was thus
quashed, and only a small band of twenty young men,
after having most of their money stolen on the way and
other unpleasant adventures, succeeded in reaching
Palestine.

PALESTINE THROUGH THE CENTURIES

These pioneers were not the only Jews in the country:
on the contrary, there was then a Jewish population of
about 20,000. It is a fallacy to imagine that Jews had
ever entirely abandoned or deserted their ancestral land.
From the day when it fell under the yoke of the Romans
until the dav of the arrival of the "Biluim" there were

1 Chapter H. 5.

30 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

always Jewish communities in it. At times numerous and
at others greatly diminished, suffering nearly always from
poverty or persecution or both, yet upborne throughout
by fortitude and faith, Jews were domiciled in Palestine,
both in the towns and in the rural districts, through all the
violent changes of fortune that overtook it. No governors,
however ruthless, succeeded either in exterminating them
or in stamping out their belief that they would survive
their oppressors. Romans and Byzantines, Persians and
Arabs, Seljuk Turks and Crusaders, Saracens and
Mamelukes, Mongols and Ottoman Turks, they all in
turn lorded it over the Holy Land at different periods
and in different ways. Throughout all these eighteen
hundred years and more after the conquest of Judaea no
other polity was established to take the place of the
ancient Jewish State.

On two occasions in the early centuries promises were
made to the Jews by powerful monarchs to restore their
independence. The first promise was made by Emperor
Julian the Apostate, in the middle of the fourth century,
but he was killed in fighting the Persians two years later.
The second was by the Persian King Chosroes II, who,
early in the seventh century, received the help of the
Jews in his invasion of Palestine under the bond of a
pledge that he would re-establish the Jewish State, but
after he had captured Jerusalem he rewarded them with
penalties and banishment. When the Arabs, under
Caliph Omar, occupied Palestine in 637, there were said
to have been between 300,000 and 400,000 Jews in the
country. But they steadily dwindled in the succeeding
centuries, and their lot was one of continued distress,
relieved only by the consolation of faith. The various
groups of Jews from Europe and North Africa who went
to Palestine from time to time settled mainly in Jerusalem,
Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias, which were called the four
Holy Cities; and as they were unable to maintain them-
selves they appealed to their brethren in the Diaspora
for kelp* From the end of the sixteenth century funds
wore regularly collected and transmitted to them, and

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 31

as they were distributed among them these funds were
called Halukah, which means "distribution/ 5

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

The young "Biluim" who arrived in Palestine in 1882
belonged to a totally different type from all the Jews who
had preceded them. They went there not to pray and die,
but to live and work and rebuild the country. The first
settlement, or colony, as it was called, which ten of them
founded not far from Jaffa was named Rishon le-Zion
("First in Zion"); while other Russian Jews helped to
restore the settlement of Petah Tikvah ("Gate of Hope")
in the same district, which had been founded a few years
earlier by some Jews of Jerusalem, who had abandoned
it owing to an outbreak of malaria and afterwards
returned. In the same year two agricultural settlements
were established by Jews from Rumania, one at Rosh
Pinah ("Head Corner-Stone 33 ), near Safed, the other
at Samarin, on the road to Haifa. They were followed
the next year by some Polish Jews, who created
the settlement of Yesod Hamaalah ("Foundation of
Ascent") near Lake Huleh. Thus, within a very short
time, a footing was secured in the four districts of
Judaea, Samaria, and North and South Galilee, in
which most of the Jewish settlements were subsequently
concentrated.

But the pioneers were faced by a more formidable
problem than they had anticipated. Ignorant of agri-
culture, unused to the climate and to hard physical
labour, handicapped by the lack of proper housing and
drinking water, and exposed to attack by the Bedouin,
they found themselves saddled with what seemed a
Herculean task. Moreover, they suffered from want of
funds. They would therefore have probably been forced
to give up their venture in despair but for the help that
came from a noblehearted French Jew, whose interest
was aroused by Rabbi Mohilever, Laurence Oliphant,
and Joseph Feinberg (one of the founders of Rishon

32 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

le-Zion). Their saviour was Baron Edmond de Roths-
child (1845-1934)3 of Paris, who, from the moment his
enthusiasm was fired, played the part of a princely
benefactor to the Jewish settlements for over fifty years
until his death. He provided generous subsidies for the
colonists, and founded a further settlement, called Ekron,
in Judaea, on which he installed Jews from the agri-
cultural colonies of Southern Russia. The settlers of
Samarin showed their gratitude by changing its name to
Zichron Jacob, in memory of Baron Edmond's father;
and in the same year nine members of Rishon le-Zion
left to found the new settlement of Katra or Gederah, in
Judaea, which they wished to make self-supporting.

THE KATTOWITZ CONFERENCE

The leaders of the Hoveve tyon societies did not wish to
let these practical developments in Palestine depend
upon philanthropy, and therefore resolved to combine
their forces so as to render effective aid themselves. Leon
Pinsker, whose pamphlet and prestige made him the
inevitable leader, with the energetic co-operation of
Rabbi Mohilever and Rabinowitz, convened a Confer-
ence of representatives of the societies at Kattowitz. It
met in November, 1884, an d was attended by 34 dele-
gates. The proceedings began on the hundredth birthday
of Sir Moses Montefiore, and the Conference decided to
name the federation of societies which they formed the
"Montefiore Association for the Promotion of Agriculture
among Jews and especially for the Support of the Jewish
Colonies in Palestine." Pinsker, who presided, declared
that the only land that would satisfy their purpose and
fulfil their aspirations was Palestine. It was agreed to
help the colonists financially, and also to send delegates
to Constantinople to secure permission for the work in
Palestine to be conducted without hindrance; but al-
though the permission wa,s not granted, the work was
Pinsker was elected President of the new
* aad I^^oblitrn'-Secretarv^ and the central

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 33

office was established in Odessa, where Pinsker was also
President of the local Hoveve %ion society*

The Association held a second conference in 1887 at
Drusgenik to improve and expand its organisation, and
a third conference two years later in Vilna, at which
thirty-five societies were represented. At last, in 1890 its
statutes were legalised under the name of "Society for
Support of Jewish Agriculturists and Artisans in Palestine
and Syria. 5 * The first general meeting of the Society was
attended by 182 delegates, who elected Pinsker as
Chairman and confirmed the choice of Odessa as head-
quarters. But Pinsker lived only another year, and when
he died in 1891 he was succeeded as Chairman of the
"Odessa Committee, 53 as the Society was popularly
called, by Abraham Gruenberg, who held office until
1906. The next chairman was Menahem Ussishkin
(1863-1941), who had become one of the leading figures
in Russian Zionism and was destined to play a prominent
part in the wider arena of world Zionism.

THE GROWTH OF THE "HIBBATH ZION" MOVEMENT

The Hibbath ion movement soon spread to many parts
of Europe and also to America. One of the first countries
in which it secured a strong footing was Rumania, where
a conference was held in 1882, attended by delegates
from thirty-two societies. In Austria the movement
received a stimulus from the prevalent Anti-Semitism,
the first society, "Kadimah," being formed in Vienna
by a group of Jewish nationalist students mainly from
Eastern Europe. The leaders of this society were Peretz
Smolenskin (1842-1885) and Dr. Nathan Birnbaum
(1864-1937), and after the untimely death of Smolenskin
the leading personality in Jewish nationalist circles in
Vienna w;as Birnbaum^ who has the credit of having
coined the term "Zionism." He was a man of ardent but
various and variable convictions. Beginning his career as
a Marxist freethinker, he played a conspicuous part in
the earliest phase of political Zionism and in Austrian

34 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Jewish politics, and ended as a fervent adherent of the
ultra-orthodox Agudath Israel. In 1885, at the early age
of twenty-one, he founded a paper Selbst-Emanzipation, in
Vienna, and eight years later published a pamphlet in
which he proposed the convening of a congress for the
resettlement of the Jews in Palestine. In Berlin, apart
from a society of the Hoveve %ion y there was also a society
of Russian Jewish students, founded by Leo Motzkin and
Joseph Lurie, and including Ghaim Weizmann, Shmarya
Levin, and Victor Jacobson all of whom were destined
to play important parts in the movement. There were
also groups of Jewish nationalist students, mainly from
Russia, in Switzerland, particularly in Berne and
Geneva.

SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA

In England there was not only a Hoveve ^ion Associa-
tion, under the leadership of Colonel Albert Goldsmid
and Elim d'Avigdor (father of the late Sir Osmond
d'Avigdor-Goldsmid), with branches called "tents,"
but also independent societies in London and Man-
chester. In France the movement had the warm support
of the Grand Rabbin Zadoc Kahn, but a Central
Committee that was formed in Paris in 1890 to serve as
a link between Hoveve %ion societies of all countries
proved ineffectual, the real authority remaining in the
hands of the Odessa Committee. In the United States
the philo-Zionist movement was espoused from the
early 'eighties by two different sections immigrants
from Russia who had received a traditional Jewish
education and retained a strong Jewish consciousness,
and several eminent Rabbis, such as Pereira Mendes,
Benjamin Szold (father of Miss Henrietta Szold), Aaron
Wise (father of Dr. Stephen Wise), Gustav Gottheil
(father of Professor Richard Gottheil) and Marcus
Jastrow. The first societies were established in New York,
Chicago, and Philadelphia, and as early as 1882 a
lecture was given on the "BHu" by Joseph Bluestone,
who Itad arrived iqt America three years before.

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 35

AHAD HA-AM'S "CULTURAL ZIONISM"

The Hoveve %ion societies on both sides of the Atlantic
sent what money they could to the struggling settlements
in Palestine and followed their slow progress with deep
concern. But there was one member of the Odessa
Committee who was more critically disposed than his
colleagues and gave expression to his views in a trenchant
article that caused a sensation. This article, which
appeared in Hamelitz in 1889, was entitled Lo zeh
Haderech ("This is not the way"), and was signed by a
pseudonym, "Ahad Ha-am" ("One of the People"),
which soon became famous. The writer was Asher
Ginsberg (1856-1927), born in a village near Kiev, who,
in addition to a Talmudical education, had studied
modern subjects in Berlin and Vienna. He settled in
1886 in Odessa, where he soon came into close touch
with the leaders of the Hibbath %ion movement. His first
article was equally remarkable for the individuality of
its views and the lucid style and cogent phrasing in
which they were expressed; it signalised the appearance
of a new thinker in Israel. Ahad Ha-am strongly
criticised the methods adopted by the Hoveve %ion to
realise the Jewish national rebirth in Palestine on the
ground that they were based upon a wrong conception of
what was necessary. He denied that Palestine was
suitable for mass immigration and that Jews could
become real farmers, and maintained that even if the
country could absorb a large number it could not have
any decisive influence upon the political position of the
Jews, owing to the fewness and impotence of the settlers.
He attributed the lack of success not to the Halukah
system or the bad methods of the administrators of the
colonies, but to the attempt to accelerate the growth of
what should be allowed to undergo gradual evolution.

For Ahad Ha-am the primary problem was not the
saving of Jews by ameliorating their physical existence,
but the preservation and development of the Jewish
spirit. He was concerned, not with the material needs of

36 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Jewry, but with the critical condition of Judaism, by
which he meant something more comprehensive than
the Jewish religion; but although anxious about the
conservation of the Jewish spirit, he was sarcastic about
the so-called "mission of Judaism," which was advanced
by the opponents of Zionism as a reason for their an-
tagonism. In his view the spiritual disintegration of
Judaism could be healed only in Palestine, which should
form a home not for Jewry but for Judaism. There a
cultural or spiritual centre should be created, from which
currents of influence should radiate throughout the
Diaspora, and thus all Jews would again be invigorated
and unified. The full realisation of the national ideal
must wait until, through the influence of the spiritual
centre, the national will became sufficiently strong to
bring it within the realm of possibility. This spiritual
centre should be built up on the basis of Hibbath gion,
which must become the dominant factor in a select group
of Jews. Ahad Ha-am recognised that even a spiritual
centre must have a material or economic basis, but he
attached more importance to quality than quantity. His
system of thought, which he developed in succeeding
years, was called Spiritual or Cultural Zionism.

THE ORDER OF "BNEI MOSHEH"

In order to realise his ideas Ahad Ha-am founded an
Order of "Sons of Moses" ("Bwi Mosheh"), whose
members should represent a high standard of ethical
integrity and work for the national revival in a spirit of
supreme disinterestedness. Most of the members of the
Order were leading Hoveve ion. He visited Palestine for
the first time in 1891, on behalf of the Odessa Com-
mittee, and went there again in 1893. After these visits
he wrote critical reports, in which he made proposals for
the purchase of land, the cessation of subsidies to the
colonists, and concentration on cultural work, A
Bialystok group of "Sons of Moses," under the leadership
of Rabbi MohJlever, fotuadpd the settlement of Rehovoth

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 37

in 1891. The Order also promoted Jewish national
education by opening the first girls 5 Hebrew school in
Jaffa and many Hebrew schools in the agricultural
villages; and it founded the first two publishing firms
for the issue of works of Hebrew literature in Russia,
"AhiasaP and "Tushiyah." Owing to the clash of
opinions and personalities the Order was dissolved in
1896. In that year Ahad Ha-am founded a Hebrew
monthly review, Hashiloah, which he edited until 1902.
It was devoted to Zionist and general Jewish questions,
contained articles by all the leading Hebrew writers of
the day, and exercised a formative influence upon the
intellectual outlook of the Hebrew-reading public.

BARON EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD'S ACTIVITIES

Meanwhile, thanks largely to the benevolent patronage
of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, another five settlements
were founded between 1890 and 1895. The most notable
of these was Hedera, orignally a swampy site in Samaria
where the first settlers suffered severely and several died
from malaria, until the marshy land was drained and
improved by the extensive plantation of eucalyptus trees.
In places where corn growing was unprofitable, French
vines were planted under expert direction, and in Galilee
horticulture and silk-worm cultivation were introduced.
Large wine-cellars were built, the largest of aU at Rishon
le-Zion, and as there was no proper agency for the sale
of the wine and the Baron had sometimes to buy the
entire yield himself, the Garmel Wine Company was
organised by the Hoveve ion in 1896 and opened up
markets in Europe and America as well as the Orient.
The Baron also provided funds for the building, not only
of houses, but also of synagogues and schools, hospitals
and asylums for the aged. To supervise the settlements
he appointed administrators, whose autocratic methods
provoked irritation and criticism. They introduced a
system of discipline and tutelage, which deprived the
settlers of all spirit of independence and initiative; and

og A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

instead of regarding the farm villages as the foundation
of the Jewish national revival they treated them merely
as a philanthropic undertaking.

Moreover, most of the settlements were based solely
upon wine-growing, so that if there was a failure of the
vintage or of markets, the settlers required further relief.
But the most serious blemish, from the Jewish point o
view 3 was that the hired labour consisted entirely of
Arabs, who worked for low wages, and it was impossible
for Jewish workers to compete with them. The colonisa-
tion thus suffered from both economic and moral
drawbacks, but the Hoveve Zion, who were unable to
furnish more than 6,000 a year as against the Baron's
millions of francs, were powerless to effect any proper
improvement. Such a state of affairs was certainly
discouraging after fifteen years of arduous struggle and
after all the glowing visions that had been conjured up
by writers and propagandists. Between 1880 and 1895
the Jewish population in Palestine had risen, by immi-
gration and natural increase, from 120,000 to 50,000, but
of this number only 3,000 had come from Eastern Europe
to form the agricultural settlements.

THE DEFECTS OF "HIBBATH ZION 5 *

There was therefore a feeling of despondency in the
Odessa Committee regarding the outlook, but this
feeling soon gave way to another, for a new and arresting
figure now appeared upon the scene, whose advent
indicated that the days of Hibbath %ion were over. The
"Love of Zion" movement played a very useful and
essential part in familiarising the Jewish world with the
idea of the return to Zion and in recruiting the first bands
of pioneers to begin converting the idea into a reality.
But its methods were too slow and haphazard, its
organisation too small and unrepresentative, and its
resources too pitifully scanty, to be capable of achieving
the grand objective. The bulk of its work depended upon
tibte benevolence of a single nian, and, no matter how

THE "LOVE OF ZION" MOVEMENT, 1882-1895 39

bountiful his generosity, or how self-sacrificing the toil
of the pioneers, such a system was unworthy of a national
cause, and its results were depressingly inadequate.
Other methods and measures were needed, with a much
larger organisation representative of the Jewish people
as a whole, and these were now to be created by political
Zionism.

CHAPTER III

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH

1895-1904

HERZL'S EARLY CAREER

IT is a rather singular fact that the founder of political
Zionism had no previous knowledge of any of the
writings and strivings of those who had preceded him in
the cause of the national restoration of his people.
Theodor Herzl was drawn to the problem as a result of
his own experiences, reflections, and convictions. Born in
Budapest on May 2, 1860, the only son of a well-to-do
merchant, and brought up in an assimilationist milieu,
he had only a superficial knowledge of Jewish affairs and
Jewish culture, but personal experience took the place
of a traditional education in rousing his Jewish con-
sciousness. He studied law at the University of Vienna,
where his parents settled in 1878, but after graduating
in 1884, and practising at the bar for a year, he decided
to devote himself to a literary career. Gifted with a
talent for the writing of charming feuilletons and divert-
ing plays, he soon attained a recognised reputation,
which won him, at the age of thirty-one, the important
position of Paris correspondent of the Vienna newspaper,
the Neue Freie Presse, then the most influential organ in
Central Europe.

THE DREYFUS AFFAIR

Three years later began the trial of Captain Alfred
Dreyfus on a trumped-up charge of treason, and Herzl,
who had to report the affair for his paper, was suddenly
jolted out of the carefree mood in which he had hitherto
enjoyed the intellectual interests and social diversions of
the French capital. He was a witness of all the dramatic
proceedings that led to the degradation and banishment

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 4!

of the martyred Jew, and of the accompanying outbursts
of anti-Semitic hostility; and he was painfully moved
by the tragedy which had sundered the French people
into two opposing camps and evoked the consternation
of the civilised world. A century after the French
Revolution had given the Jews civil equality as part of
the ideal programme of "liberty, equality, fraternity, 35
Herzl saw that the Jews were threatened with a move-
ment of reaction, and he was driven to cogitate on the
position. He first embodied his thoughts in a play, Das
Neue Ghetto, which he wrote in the autumn of 1894, but
had to wait over three years before it was produced.
The Dreyfus affair, however, was not the first episode
that had outraged his Jewish feelings. He had been stung
by an anti-Jewish speech of the fanatical Burgomaster
of Vienna, Karl Lueger; he had been shocked on reading
a book by a pioneer of Nazi ideology, Eugen Duhring;
he withdrew from a University students' union because
of its anti-Semitic attitude; and on two occasions some
years later, while travelling in Germany, he heard after
him the cry of the mediaeval Jew-baiter, "Hep, hep!" But
the drama enacted in Paris wounded his soul as no previous
experience had done: it threw the grimmest light upon
the Jewish problem and forced him to address his mind
to a solution,

"THE JEWISH STATE"

Herzl set forth his views and proposals in a pamphlet,
entitled Der Judenstaat, which he wrote in the summer of
1895. Throughout the weeks of its feverish composition,
he felt in a state of spiritual exaltation. Somewhat similar
ideas had already been expressed by Moses Hess and
Leon Pinsker, but Herzl had not heard of them at the
time, and when he was told of them later he said that if
he had known of them he would never have written his
own brochure. Seldom has a movement owed more than
did political Zionism to the fact that its founder was
totally ignorant of his predecessors. He based his plea
for the creation of a Jewish State upon the conviction

42 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

that no matter how useful, patriotic, and self-sacrificing
Jews might prove wherever they were, they would never
be left in peace. The Jewish question, he argued, existed
where there were Jews in perceptible numbers, and since
they naturally moved to places where they were not
persecuted they ended up by importing anti-Semitism
through their migration. They might perhaps be able to
merge themselves entirely among the nations surround-
ing them if they could be left in peace for two genera-
tions, but the nations would not leave them in peace. It
was neither a social nor a religious question, but a
"national question, which can be solved only by making
it a political world question, to be discussed and settled
by the civilised nations of the world in council. 35

The solution that Herzl proposed was that the Jews
should be "granted sovereignty over a portion of the
globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements
of a nation." The rest they would manage for themselves,
and for this purpose he suggested two agencies, a
"Society of Jews/' and a "Jewish Company/ 3 signific-
antly using these English terms. The "Society" was to
undertake all the preparatory work of organisation and
political negotiation, and the "Company" was to attend
to the manifold financial and economic questions. "The
Jewish State is essential to the world/' he wrote. "It will
therefore be created." Like Pinsker, he did not commit
himself to a particular territory. He proposed Palestine
and Argentina as the two alternatives, but left it to
Jewish public opinion and the "Society" to decide which
it was to be. He had not long to wait for the answer. In
the Introduction to his pamphlet he wrote that, with its
publication, his task was done and he would not take up
his pen again unless he were driven to it by the attacks
of noteworthy antagonists. The attacks came fast and
furiously.

THE SEARCH FOR SUPPORT

Herzl did not publish The Jewish State immediately
He first showed the manuscript to a journalistic friend.

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 43

who thought that he had gone out of his mind, but Herzl
felt reassured when he correctly added up a column of
telegram expenses which his colleague had failed to get
right. Herzl then submitted the manuscript to Dr. Max
Nordau (1849-1923), an eminent psychiatrist as well as
a world-famed author; and Nordau not only vindicated
the sanity of Herzl but declared himself willing to assist
him. Nevertheless, Herzl still refrained from publication
before attempting to secure influential support for his
scheme. He first approached Baron Maurice de Hirsch
(1831-1896), a multi-millionaire who had made a vast
fortune from the building of railways in Russia and the
Balkans, and founded the Jewish Colonisation Associa-
tion (commonly called the "I.C.A.") in 1891 with an
initial sum of 2,000,000, later increased to 10,000,000,
primarily for the establishment of Russian Jews in
agricultural settlements in the Argentine and other
parts of America. But Baron de Hirsch believed only
in philanthropic methods: he was opposed to any
political solution of the Jewish question, and he died
before Herzl had a second opportunity of discussing his
proposals with him.

In September, 1895, Herzl returned to Vienna to take
up the position of Literary Editor of the Neue Freie Presse,
a post that he retained until his death; but although fully
occupied by his newspaper duties and the writing of
plays, he felt impelled to go ahead with his scheme.
Nordau gave him an introduction to Israel Zangwill
(1864-1926), and Herzl went to London in the hope of
securing the interest of leading personalities in the
Anglo-Jewish community. He expounded his views to the
Maccabaeans, a club of professional men, but the
response that he received from them, as well as from the
pillars of the community, both lay and clerical, although
friendly to him personally, was anything but encourag-
ing. He therefore resolved to address himself to the
Jewish public. On February i4th, 1896, Der Judenstaat
appeared in Vienna, and English and French transla-
tions promptly followed.

44 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

OPPONENTS AND SUPPORTERS

The pamphlet aroused attention throughout the world
and immediately produced a general discussion of the
Jewish problem both in Jewish and in non-Jewish circles.
It was debated in the Jewish Press for months and
formed the subject of the keenest and even bitterest
controversy. Its critics and assailants were more numer-
ous and influential than its active supporters. They
included the leaders of the Western communities on
both sides of the Atlantic, who were wedded to the policy
of assimilation, and saw in HerzPs proposals a reflection
upon their local patriotism; a host of Rabbis (dubbed
Protest Rabbiner) who denounced them as a contradiction
of the Messianic doctrine; and a multitude of miscel-
laneous writers, who attacked Herzl on the ground that
he was trying "to put the clock back/ 3 and that his
scheme was utterly impracticable.

The supporters of the scheme were naturally far more
numerous in Eastern Europe, but it also had vigorous
champions in Central Europe and the Western world,
particularly in academic circles. In reply to the oppon-
ents, they pointed out that half of the Jews in the world.
that is, those in Russia and Rumania were treated
by their Governments as outlaws and pariahs, and it was
therefore the sheerest irony to taunt them with lack of
patriotism; that they were enjoined always to pray for
the immediate ending of their exile, and not for its
prolongation until some remote and unknown future,
when the Messiah would appear; and that the scheme
could be rendered practicable if only it received adequate
support. The Hoveve %j,on were at first divided in their
attitude, partly because Herzl came from an assimila-
tionist milieu, but still more because they feared that the
Turkish Government would be alarmed and put a stop
to further colonising activity in Palestine; but the bulk
of them soon rallied to his side and many of the others
followed. Herzl found keen supporters in the "Kadi-
and other Jewish, student societies in Austria; he

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 45

was enthusiastically acclaimed at a public demonstration
of Jews in the East End of London in the summer of
1896; and he received messages of allegiance from
individual Jews and Jewish societies in various parts of
the world, including Palestine.

FIRST POLITICAL STEPS

Before making any general appeal to the Jewish
people, Herzl tried to secure political support. Thanks
to the mediation of the Chaplain to the British Embassy
in Vienna, the Rev. William Hechler, he saw the Grand
Duke of Baden, through whom he hoped to be able to
approach the German Emperor; but he had to wait
over a year before securing an audience. He then went
to Constantinople, where he saw the Grand Vizier, but
he was unable so soon to penetrate to the Sultan. A
visit to Baron Edmond de Rothschild proved equally
futile, for although this princely philanthropist continued
to display generous interest in the resettlement of
Palestine, he was apprehensive of any sort of political
scheme. Herzl therefore realised that the only way in
which he could hope to secure practical co-operation was
the democratic method of calling a congress of repre-
sentatives of the Jewish people. It was a bold and
hazardous idea, for no such gathering had ever been held
in all the centuries of the Dispersion. At first Munich was
chosen as the meeting-place, but the heads of the local
Jewish community and the Executive of the Union of
German Rabbis protested so vigorously against what
they regarded as a slur upon their loyalty, that the city
of Basle was fixed upon instead. As a medium of propa-
ganda, which was all the more necessary because of the
hostility of so many Jewish papers, Herzl, with his own
money, founded a weekly journal, Die Welt, which first
appeared in June, 1897. It always had a yellow cover
the colour of the mediaeval badge of shame, now
elevated to a symbol of national pride. He took this step
despite the wishes of the Jewish proprietors and editor

46 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

of the Meue Freie Presse, who were hostile to the Zionist
movement and rigorously excluded any mention of it
from their paper throughout HerzPs life.

THE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS

After overcoming considerable obstacles Herzl suc-
ceeded in convening the first Zionist Congress, which
opened on August syth, 1897, and lasted three days. It
was attended by 204 delegates from all parts of the world,
constituting a veritable microcosm of the Jewish people,
and comprising all shades of thought, all varieties of
social strata, and a medley of physical types. The
Congress was an Inspiring assembly and a turning point
in Jewish history, for it was the first time after eighteen
hundred years of exile, that representatives of the
Jewish people had come together to deliberate on the
means of achieving their national rehabilitation. In his
inaugural speech, Herzl made no reference to his
pamphlet, nor were its contents discussed at that or at
any succeeding Congress. He declared that Zionism had
united the scattered limbs of Jewry, upon a national basis
and thus brought about the return to Judaism even
before the return to the Jewish land. The return to their
ancestral home should take place only in a legal manner,
after the necessary guarantees had been obtained. The
Ottoman Empire would be strengthened by the Jewish
influx, and the lands of the Diaspora would be freed of
anti-Semitism by the exodus of surplus Jews. The Jewish
people, he concluded, had created for itself in the Con-
gress an organ that it urgently needed for its life and
would be of permanent duration.

THE BASLE PROGRAMME

Herzl was followed by Nordau, who gave a masterly
review of the general situation of the Jews, emphasising
their economic plight in the East and their moral
distress in the West; Nordau was a brilliant speaker,

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904

whose critical survey of the position of Jewry formed
conspicuous feature of the opening session of sever
subsequent Congresses. The two main achievements
the first Congress were the formulation of the Zioni
Programme and the establishment of the Zioni
Organisation. The Basle Programme, as it was calle
was unanimously adopted in the following terms: "Tl
aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a hon
in Palestine secured by public law." In order to attai
this object the Congress resolved upon the followir
means: systematically promoting the settlement 3
Palestine of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and craft
men; organising Jews in their respective countrie
strengthening the Jewish national consciousness; an
taking preparatory steps for obtaining whatever Goven
ment assent was necessary. The Zionist Organisatic
was to comprise Federations of local societies in differei
countries, and each Federation should stand in dire<
communication with the Central Office in Vienna. Tt
government of the Organisation was entrusted to it
General Council (Greater " Actions Committee 35 ) an
also to a Central Executive (Smaller "Actions Con
mittee"), whose members all lived in Vienna, tit
residence of Herzl, who was elected President. Evei
person was to be regarded as a Zionist who subscribe
to the Basle Programme and paid the small annual ta
of a shekel (one shilling or its equivalent) to provide tl
Executive with their working fund. The payment of tit
shekel conferred the right to vote for a delegate 1
Congress, which was to be the supreme controllir
organ of the movement.

After he had returned to Vienna Herzl made tl
following entry in his diary, which he kept from the tin
that he wrote The Jewish State until his last days: "If
were to sum up the Basle Congress in one word whic
I shall not do openly it would be this: at Basle I founde
the Jewish State. If I were to say this to-day, I would I
met by universal laughter. In five years, perhaps, ai]
certainly in fifty, every one will see it. The State is alreac

48 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

founded, in essence, in the will of the people to the
State. 33

The Congress gave a powerful impetus to propaganda
in all parts of the world, and numerous adherents were
won over to the Basle Programme, Most of the Hoveve
%ion societies that had hitherto held aloof, especially
those in England and the United States, now declared
their adhesion. The Zionist Federation of Great Britain
and the Zionist Organisations of the United States and
Canada were all founded in 1898. In that year Zionist
societies multiplied eightfold, and each succeeding
Congress recorded a growth of numbers or an extension
into new and remote regions, from Singapore to Winni-
peg, and from Nairobi to Wellington.

THE ZIONIST BANK

There were only five more Congresses in HerzFs life-
time, all of which were also held in Basle, with the
exception of the fourth, which took place in London. The
Second Congress, which was held in 1898 and attended
by nearly twice as many delegates as the first, decided
to establish a bank, which should serve as the financial
instrument of the Organisation, It was founded as a
joint stock company in London, under the name of the
Jewish Colonial Trust (for Herzl attached the highest
importance to creating Zionist institutions with firm
foundations in England). It had a nominal capital of
2, 000,000 i* 1 l shares, but it took three years before
the sum of 250,000 was subscribed by 140,000 share-
holders in all parts of the world. The laborious task of
floating the bank was largely the work of David Wolff-
sohn, a well-to-do merchant in Cologne, and Jacobus
Kann, a banker of The Hague, both intimate friends of
Herzl, who had to fight against the opposition of the
wealthier section of Jewry, and especially of the finan-
ciers, who decried the undertaking.

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 49

INTERVIEWS WITH THE KAISER

While the bank was in the process of creation, Herzl
took an important political step. He was radically
opposed to any gradual infiltration into Palestine and
was bent upon obtaining a Charter from the Sultan
Abdul Hamid of Turkey for an autonomous settlement,
He aimed at gaining the support of the German Emperor
William II, for this project, and, thanks to the friendly
offices of the Grand Duke of Baden, he secured an
audience, in the autumn of 1898, in Constantinople,
with the Emperor, who was then on the way to Palestine.
But the hope that Herzl based on that interview was
dispelled at the following one, a fortnight later, in the
vicinity of Jerusalem, when the Kaiser merely made an
evasive reply.

At the Third Congress, in 1899, Herzl announced that
the immediate aim of Zionist policy was to obtain a
Charter for an autonomous settlement in Palestine, but
nearly two years elapsed before he succeeded in opening
negotiations with the Sultan on the matter. In the
interval the Fourth Congress was held in London, in
1900, serving the purpose of making the movement better
known in the English-speaking world and arousing the
interest of the British public. In his inaugural speech
Herzl, in an inspired moment of prophecy, exclaimed:
"England the great, England the free, England, with
her eyes roaming over all the seas, will understand us and
our aims. From this place the Zionist idea will take a
still further and higher flight: of this we may be sure/ 5

THE JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

Internal differences were rather pronounced at the
Fifth Congress (1901), at which a compact group,
mainly of Russian Zionists, disciples of Ahad Ha-am,
and called the "Democratic Zionist Fraction/' insisted
upon greater attention being devoted to Jewish national
culture. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, one of the leaders of the

D

50 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

group, proposed the establishment of a Jewish Univer-
sity; but the group itself, which was the first party to
arise in the Movement, soon dissolved, though its
demand for practical work in Palestine was energetically
advanced at subsequent Congresses. A more notable
outcome of this Fifth Congress was the resolution to
establish the Jewish National Fund for the acquisition
of land in Palestine as the inalienable possession of the
Jewish people. A new constitution of the Organisation
was adopted, and it was decided that future Congresses
should be held every two years instead of annually.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SULTAN

Herzl was mainly concerned with the political aspect
of the movement. He was of the opinion that such
matters as national culture and colonising work should
be deferred until after the requisite political guarantees
had been obtained for an autonomous settlement. He
had his first audience with the Sultan of Turkey in May,
1901, thanks to the friendly mediation of Arminius
Vambery, the famous Hungarian Jewish traveller.
Herzl wanted to secure a Charter, and as the Ottoman
Treasury was at that time in a tottering condition, he
proposed to buttress it by an annual tribute, which the
Sultan could use as interest for a loan that the Jewish
Colonial Trust would arrange on his behalf. The negotia-
tions dragged on over 12 months, in the course of which
Herzl submitted other proposals in interviews with
Abdul Hamid and also made anxious inquiries in
London,- Paris, and other financial centres, as to the
possibility of raising the large sums that would be needed.
But all his efforts were in vain, for although in the final
interview, in July, 1902, he offered the Sultan 1,600,000
the only concession that the impecunious potentate was
willing to give was for the Jews to colonise in Mesopo-
tamia, Syria, and Anatolia, but not in Palestine. "A
Charter without Palestine! I refused at once, 35 wrote
Herzl ia his diary*

THE HERZLJAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 5!

ALIEN IMMIGRATION COMMISSION AND "ALTNEULAND**

Foiled in his efforts in Constantinople, Herzl turned to
London. A couple of weeks before Ms last audience
with the Sultan, he gave evidence in London before the
Royal Commission on Alien Immigration, which had
been appointed in consequence of the agitation against
the large influx of Russian Jews into t&e East End of that
city. He emphasised persecution as the cause of this
migration, pointed out that anti-Semitism was thus
carried by the emigrants to another country, and main-
tained that Zionism was the only solution of the problem.
During this stay in London he broached to Lord
Rothschild, the head of the Anglo-Jewish community
and a member of the Royal Commission, the idea of
creating a Jewish colony in British territory either in
the Sinai Peninsula or in Cyprus.

While waiting for this idea to receive official con-
sideration, he published a romance, Altneuland, in which
he attempted to forecast the conditions in Palestine
20 years later. The book was strongly criticised,
especially by Ahad Ha-am, because it failed to portray
a background of Jewish cultural life in Palestine, with
Hebrew as the national tongue. But it nevertheless
achieved a measure of popularity and was translated into
several languages, while the motto on its title-page:
"If you wish it, this is no fairy tale," became an oft-
quoted maxim in the Zionist world.

THE SINAI PENINSULA PROJECT

Herzl's desire to discuss the question of a Jewish
settlement in British territory with a member of the
British Government was at length realised. Through the
mediation of Leopold J. Greenberg 1 , an English member
of the Actions Committee, he had an interview on
October 22nd, 1902, with the British Colonial Secretary,

iBorn in Birmingham 1862, died in London 1931. Editor of The Jewish
ChrordcU, 1907-1931.

52 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Joseph Chamberlain, who told him that a Jewish settle-
ment in Cyprus would be opposed by the local population
and that the question of the Sinai Peninsula must be
discussed with the Foreign Secretary. The next day
Herzl was received in the Foreign Office by Lord
Lansdowne, who favoured the idea of a Jewish settle-
ment at Wadi el Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, and agreed
to give Greenberg a letter of introduction to Lord
Cromer, the British Proconsul in Egypt, for the purpose
of negotiation. A technical commission was sent out to
investigate the territory, but found that it would be
unsuitable unless adequately irrigated. Anxious to leave
nothing undone in the interest of the project, towards the
financing of which the Jewish Colonisation Association
was prepared to give 1,000,000, Herzl also went out to
Cairo, after Greenberg had left, to continue the negotia-
tions with Lord Cromer. But the Egyptian Government
rejected the scheme on the ground of the impossibility
of sparing sufficient water from the Nile for irrigation,
although it was known that it was also opposed for
political reasons.

THE EAST AFRICAN OFFER

The failure of the El Arish project was immediately
followed by an offer of territory by Chamberlain in
British East Africa, which he had recently visited. Herzl
hesitated at first to consider this, but the news of the
terrible pogroms in Kishinev and other cities in Russia,
which horrified the world in April, 1903, swiftly brought
about a change of attitude. The plateau near Nairobi,
the territory in question, lacked the redeeming feature of
the Sinai Peninsula namely, close proximity to Pales-
tine but the offer was rendered attractive by the
promise of autonomy under a Jewish governor. Besides,
it was of great political importance to receive a formal
offer of territory from the British Government. The
discussion as to details was left in the hands of Greenberg,
as Herzl suddenly decided to visit Russia for two pur-
poses to secure the cancellation of a secret decree

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 53

forbidding all Zionist meetings and collections, and to
obtain the Russian Government's friendly intervention
with the Sultan (for he still hoped that Abdul Hamid
might become amenable).

VISIT TO RUSSIA

In August, 1903, he went to St. Petersburg, where the
all-powerful Minister of the Interior, Von Plehve,
promised that he would allow Zionist activities as long
as they were concerned only with the creation of a
Jewish centre in Palestine and with mass emigration
from Russia, but any nationalist propaganda would be
suppressed. Von Plehve also promised to support
Herzl's efforts in Constantinople, and the Finance
Minister, Witte, agreed to the opening of branches of
the Jewish Colonial Trust in Russia. From St. Petersburg
Herzl went to Vilna, to see for himself the life of Russian
Jewry, and it was while in that citadel of Jewish culture
and poverty that he received a document from the British
Government. It was the letter containing the formal
offer of territory in East Africa, in which the Jews would
enjoy autonomy under a Jewish governor, subject to a
Commission of Inquiry being sent out to investigate the
land and finding it suitable for settlement.

HERZL'S LAST CONGRESS

When Herzl, at the end of August, 1903, faced the
Sixth Congress, the last over which he presided, he met
with violent criticism. He was upbraided for having
spoken with Plehve, whom the Jews in Russia regarded
as the instigator of the latest pogroms, and even more
bitterly attacked because of the East African project,
which its opponents disparagingly referred to as
"Uganda." In submitting the proposal, he declared that
the venture must be regarded only as an emergency
undertaking, that the Jewish people could not have any
other objective but Palestine, and that his views on the

54 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

land of his fathers were unchangeable, but that the
Congress should make use of the offer to alleviate the
condition of the Jewish people. Nordau sought to
influence the Congress by pointing out that East Africa
was intended only as a Nachtasyl, a shelter, in which the
Jews could be trained as a nation for their future
mission in Palestine. But all arguments failed to convince
or mollify the opponents, who largely belonged to the
Russian delegation. The issue put to the Congress was
not that the offer should be accepted, but that a Com-
mission of Inquiry should be despatched to investigate
the territory, on the definite condition that the cost
should not be defrayed by the Zionist Organisation or
the Jewish Colonial Trust. 1 When the resolution was
adopted, the Russian opponents immediately withdrew
to a separate hall, where many of them wept as if they
had lost Palestine for ever. But after Herzl pleaded with
them and assured them again of his unalterable attach-
ment to Zion, they returned to the Congress.

THE CONCLUDING PHASE

A few months later a number of prominent Russian
Zionists, under the leadership of Menahem Ussishkin,
held a conference in Kharkov and sent a delegation to
Vienna to present Herzl with an ultimatum. This was
to the effect that unless he undertook in writing to
abandon the East African scheme and to confine himself
to Palestine, the Russian Zionists would cease to remit
their shekel contributions to Vienna and would convene
an opposition Congress. Herzl refused to comply with the
ultimatum, and after the deputation returned to Russia
he set out on his last political journey. He went to Rome,
where he had an audience with the King of Italy, who
was sympathetic to the idea of Zionism, and also with
Pope Pius X, who expressed himself in unfriendly terms.
The unrest within the movement continued, and a

1 The cost of the expedition, amounting to 2,000, was defrayed by the Hon.
Mrs. E. A. Gordon, a Christian j&iend of the Zionist inovenient. See the author's
Jewisk Trtmdkr t p. 153.

THE HERZLIAN EPOCH, 1895-1904 55

special meeting of the Greater " Actions Committee 3 *
was therefore held in Vienna on April nth, 1904, to
allay the conflict. Herzl succeeded in convincing his
opponents that he was and would remain faithful to
Palestine, and the stormy proceedings concluded with
a resolution of conciliation and confidence. It was the
last discussion in which he took part, for his end was
approaching. Owing to a prolonged heart affection,
aggravated by an attack of pneumonia, he passed away,
at the early age of forty-four, on July 3rd, 1904. His death
was mourned by Jews throughout the world, and his
funeral was attended by thousands.

Within the short space of eight years Theodor Herzl
had wrought a revolution in Jewish life and thought.
He had secured recognition for the Jewish question as a
serious international problem. He had negotiated with
sovereigns and statesmen, who acknowledged the com-
petence of the Zionist Organisation to establish a Jewish
State. He was the first Jewish statesman produced by
his people after eighteen hundred years of exile who
dedicated himself entirely to its national revival, and he
left an imperishable legacy of incalculable value to be
developed by his followers.

CHAPTER IV

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM

1905-1914

REJECTION OF THE BRITISH OFFER

WHEN the Seventh Congress met on July syth, 1905,
it had to deal with two important questions the
report of the scientific commission that had explored the
proffered territory in British East Africa and the future
leadership of the Movement. The Commission was
divided in its views, for while the two Jewish members
reported that the land was quite unsuitable, its non-
Jewish leader was of opinion that it could be developed
to accommodate 20,000 agriculturists. The Congress by
a large majority declined the British offer. It adopted a
resolution declaring that the Zionist Organisation
adhered to the fundamental principle of the Basle
Programme and rejected any colonising activity outside
Palestine; it thanked the British Government for its offer
and its desire to help in bringing about a solution of the
Jewish question; and it expressed the hope that the
Zionist movement would be favoured by Britain's good
offices in some future project that would be in accord-
ance with the Basle Programme. That event came twelve
years later.

THE "I.T.O."

The delegates who were in favour of the British offer
immediately withdrew from the Congress and seceded
from the Organisation. Their leader was Israel Zangwill,
who at once created the Jewish Territorial Organisation,
which adopted as its programme the establishment
of a Jewish autonomous settlement in any part of the
world. This new body was commonly GaUed (after its
initials) the "LT.O.," and its adherents were known as

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM, 1905-1914 57

'Territorialists" or "Itoists." Over a period of years it
conducted negotiations with various Governments and
carried out explorations in Cyrenaica and Angola with
legative results, and a few years after the First World
War it was dissolved by ZangwiH himself.

"POLITICAL 3 * AND "PRACTICAL" ZIONISTS

The problem of the leadership of the Zionist movement
/vas solved by the election as President of David Wolff-
iohn (1856-1914), the most intimate friend of Herzl,
,vho was born in a Lithuanian townlet and had become
i prosperous timber merchant in Cologne. The head-
juarters of the movement were accordingly transferred
rom Vienna to that city. The new Executive consisted
)f six other members, who belonged to two different
chools of thought which resulted from the liquidation of
he East African question and the absence of any prospect
>f fruitful negotiation with the Ottoman Government.
Whilst all Zionists were agreed upon the political
)bjective formulated in the Basle Programme, there were
ome who strongly emphasised the need of beginning
vork in Palestine without waiting for any political
guarantees and who were called "practical Zionists/'
vhile the others who consistently stressed the prior need
or such guarantees were known as the "political Zion-
sts. 55 Between the "politicals 53 and the "practicals"
here was a protracted struggle that ended some years
ater in the victory of the latter. Even Herzl himself,
ilthough opposed to any colonisation in Palestine being
indertaken before the coveted Charter was secured,
lad agreed to a scientific commission investigating the
iconomic resources of Palestine, and the Seventh Con-
press accordingly resolved that, while unsystematic or
)hilanthropic colonisation should be avoided, suitable
neasures should be taken for the furtherance of agri-
;ulture and industry and for the intellectual improve-
nent of the Jews in the country.

Apart from the division into "politicals 59 and

58 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

"practicals," two parties had already been formed in the
movement. A group of orthodox adherents in Russia,
who wished to emphasise that Zionism should be realised
on the basis of Jewish religious law and tradition,
founded the "Mizrachi" 1 in Vilna in 1902. The other
party, the "Poale Zion" (Workers of Zion), consisted of
those who wished to combine the Zionist programme
with the principles of Socialism. It was formed in
Austria in 1903, and in other countries during the next
three years, and held its first general conference in The
Hague in 1907. These two parties, constituting the Right
and Left wings of the movement, always endeavoured to
assert their specific standpoint particularly at Congresses.

WOLFFSOHN'S LEADERSHIP

Wolffsohn was the President of the Zionist Organisa-
tion for six years (1905-1911) and devoted himself to
its development and consolidation with great zeal and
energy, and with unsuspected gifts of leadership and
force of character. He enjoyed the valuable assistance of
Nahum Sokolow (1861-1936), a polyglot scholar and
editor for many years of the Warsaw Hebrew daily,
Hatzefirah, who was appointed General Secretary. The
movement continued to be exposed to a great deal of
antagonism, which was no longer confined to the
assimilationists and the ultra-orthodox, but was supple-
mented by the "Itoists," who for several years conducted
a sort of vendetta against the parent Organisation.
Nevertheless, Zionism made steady progress, furthered
by an increasing consciousness of the hopelessness of the
situation in Central and Eastern Europe. It gained its
largest following in Russia, which then contained about
six million Jews, and provided a separate political plat-
form in the desperate struggle against the tyranny of the
Tsardom. The Zionists put up their own candidates in
the elections for the first Russian Parliament (Duma) in

1 Abbreviated comporaid of tlxe Hebrew term, Merkaz fathom ("Spiritual
Centre").

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM., 1905-1914 59

1905 and succeeded in having five returned among the
14 Jews elected; but in the second Duma, two years
later, only six Jews were returned, of whom only one
was a Zionist. In the Austrian Parliament, too, there were
Zionists, four having been returned in the general
election of 1907, although in the next election, four years
later, owing to the combined opposition in Galicia of
Poles, Socialists, and Jewish assimilationists, only one
Zionist was returned.

BRUSSELS AND ST. PETERSBURG

Although Wolffsohn did not engage in the same kind
of diplomatic activity as Herzl, he had to concern him-
self with matters that called for action of a political or
quasi-political nature. Soon after his election to the
Presidency there was a fresh outbreak of pogroms in
Russia, lasting several months, and causing a renewed
flood of Jewish emigration to the lands of the West. The
Zionist Executive therefore invited the leading Jewish
philanthropic organisations to a Conference in Brussels,
in order to organise joint measures for regulating emigra-
tion and caring for the refugees, tasks which had hitherto
been done separately by different bodies. The Con-
ference, which was held in January, 1906, and was
attended by delegates of the Anglo-Jewish Association,
the "LT.O.," and the "Hilfsverein der deutschen
Juden," 1 adopted well-meaning resolutions but achieved
no lasting results. Not only did the Tsarist regime cause
an unceasing exodus of Jews, but it also repressed various
forms of Zionist activity. Zionist workers were often
arrested for conducting propaganda on behalf of the
Jewish National Fund, and editors of Zionist papers for
publishing nothing more revolutionary than a Shekel
appeal. The position became particularly serious in the
summer of 1908, when Wolffsohn found it necessary to
visit St. Petersburg, to have an interview with the

1 German Jewish Relief Organisation, founded in Berlin in 1901, dissolved by
the Nazi Government before the Second World War.

6o A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Premier, Stolypin; but although the latter repeated the
assurance given by Plehve to Herzl, that there would be
no interference with the Zionists as long as they confined
themselves to the Palestine programme, the Russian
authorities continued their policy of repression.

THE TURKISH REVOLUTION

It was in the same year that an event occurred in
Turkey, which, it was hoped, would hold out some
promise for the Zionist cause. This was the revolution of
the Young Turks, who deposed the old Sultan and
established a constitutional government; but it was not
long before it became quite clear that the new regime
was just as jealous of the sovereignty and integrity of the
Ottoman Empire as Abdul Hamid himself. The Young
Turks were firmly opposed to the fostering of separate
nationalisms within the confines of the Empire, and
their antipathy to Jewish nationalism was stirred up by
a small clique of assimilationists, who maligned the aims
of Zionism not only in their own Judaeo-Spanish papers
but also in the Turkish Press. In order to counteract this
campaign of misrepresentation the Zionist Executive
appointed a political representative in Constantinople
in the person of Dr. Victor Jacobson. 1 He carried out his
diplomatic mission as manager of a branch of the
Jewish Colonial Trust, which was opened in the Otto-
man capital under the name of the Anglo-Levantine
Banking Company. Dr. Jacobson devoted particular
attention to the Press, and, with funds provided by the
Zionist Executive, he founded two French papers a
daily for the general public and a Zionist weekly.
Efforts to win the local Jewish community over to the
Zionist cause met with the hostile resistance of the
Haham Bashi (Chief Rabbi), but they were more
successful in the more Jewish milieu of Salonika, where
they were ardently championed by its Chief Rabbi,
Jacob Meir.

i Bom at Simferopol (Cdnaea) 18% died at Geacva, *934-

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM, 19051914 6 1

In consequence of the Young Turks 5 revolution, it was
considered necessary, at the Ninth Congress (which was
held in Hamburg at the end of 1909), to affirm the
absolute compatibility of Zionism with loyalty to the
Ottoman Empire. Wolffsohn declared that the objects
of the movement would be pursued in complete harmony
with the spirit of the Ottoman Constitution. But there
was one point in HerzPs policy which had now become
questionable namely, the need for a Charter. Nordau,
who was President of the Congress, stated that the
Charter idea had outlived its day and would be rele-
gated to the archives of the movement. There was no
need, he said, to alter the Basle Programme, since this
made no mention of a Charter. But despite these declara-
tions and explanations, there was no change of attitude
on the part of the Turkish Government, which was blind
to the valuable services that could be rendered by an
organised Jewish settlement in Palestine.

"SYNTHETIC ZIONISM"

Throughout Wolffsohn's six years of office the Zionist
camp was divided into "practicals" and "politicals,"
who constantly debated the question of the advisability
of pressing forward with work in Palestine. There was
a particularly notable discussion on the matter at the
Eighth Congress (which was held in 1907 at The Hague).
The speeches revealed a narrowing of the gap between
the two sides, since the political protagonists were not in
principle opposed to work in Palestine, but only wished
that it should not be allowed to obscure the ultimate
political objective; and, on the other hand, several
spokesmen advocated the policy of a synthesis of political
and practical activity. 1 The outcome of the discussion

1 The idea of a synthesis of different trends in Zionism was first expressed by
Herzl in 1898. At the Eighth Congress the only speaker who used the actual
expression "Synthetic Zionism" was Rabbi Dr. Niemirower. Dr. Weizmann said;
"We want an honest synthesis of the two trends. And if I felt certain that both
sides were trying to reach an honest synthesis, then I would also be for it. But
I have no such certainty." See Dr. Oskar K. Rabinowicz, Fifty Tears of^ionism^
pp. 1 00-101.

62 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

was the decision to establish in Jaffa a Palestine Office,
which was placed under the direction of Dr. Arthur
Ruppin (1876-1943)3 an economist who had specialised
In questions of Jewish sociology. The Congress also
resolved that Hebrew should be recognised as the
official language of the movement and be gradually
introduced into its controlling organs, and that the
President of future Congresses should not be either the
President of the Organisation or a member of the
Executive.

TRANSFER OF HEADQUARTERS TO BERLIN

The conflict between the "prapticals" and the "poli-
ticals" was marked by renewed intensity at the Ninth
Congress, which re-elected Wolffsohn as President and
his two previous colleagues in the Executive, Jacobus
Kann (1872-1944), and Professor Otto Warburg (1859-
1 938)? of Berlin. In this triumvirate the only representa-
tive of the "practicals" was Warburg; and as Sokolow's
sympathies were with that side, he resigned the position
of General Secretary. But at the Tenth Congress (which
was held at Basle in 1911) the "practicals 33 at last
triumphed by securing the election of an Executive
consisting solely of adherents of their own school. It
comprised Professor Warburg, who became President,
Nahum Sokolow, Dr. Schmarya Levin (a former mem-
ber of the Duma), Dr. Victor Jacobson, and Dr. Arthur
Hantke (a Berlin lawyer). In consequence of this change
the Central Office was transferred to Berlin, together
with the official organ, Die Welt, but the head office of
the Jewish National Fund remained in Cologne.

The same Executive was re-elected at the Eleventh
Congress (which was held in 1913 in Vienna), with the
addition of Dr. Yehiel Tschlenow (1864-1918), a
Moscow physician, also of the "practical" school, who
shared with Ussishkin in the leadership of the Russian
Zionists. It was the first Congress from which Nordau
absented himself. He sent a message clearly implying

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM, 1905-1914 63

support for the "politicals/* who still retained control of
the Jewish Colonial Trust and successfully resisted the
efforts of the "practicals" to oust them from that key
position. Cultural questions occupied a prominent place
at this Congress, for not only was it preceded by a World
Conference of Hebraists, but an entire session was
conducted in Hebrew; and after an address by Dr.
Weizmarni on the founding of a Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, the Congress enthusiastically agreed to the
appointment of a commission to make the preliminary
investigations for this purpose. Little did those who took
part in that gathering dream that it would be eight
years before the Zionist Parliament met again, when the
prospects and problems of the movement had assumed a
far wider range and a totally different character.

BEGINNINGS OF ZIONIST COLONISATION

Despite the lack of progress in the political sphere,
various efforts at colonisation in Palestine were under-
taken by the Zionist Organisation before the outbreak
of the First World War in 1914. Those efforts were not
substantial in scope and volume, but they were signifi-
cant and epoch-making in character. During the twelve
years that elapsed between the publication of The
Jewish State and the beginning of Zionist colonisation,
comparatively little progress was made by the first
groups of Jewish settlers in the country. Owing to the
conflicts between the colonists and his "administrators,"
Baron Edmond de Rothschild, in 1900, transferred the
control and management of all his settlements to the
Jewish Colonisation Association, but continued to take
an interest in them and to provide further help whenever
necessary. Many Jewish farmers had fair-sized holdings,
on which they employed cheap Arab labour, so as to
counteract the effect of heavy Government taxation
a system that did not favour the development of a Jewish
national community. The Hoveve %ion, under the general
direction of the Odessa Committee, continued their

64 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

modest effort, but with little material result. The spirit
of heroism and self-sacrifice that distinguished the
Biluim seemed to have evaporated; the former idealists
found it difficult to avoid using Arab labour; no further
large colonies were established; and many sons of the
pioneers left the country owing to the apparently
unpromising prospects. There was no improvement in
the situation until the Zionist Organisation began
practical work itself.

The first step taken by the Organisation was the
Establishment of a bank in Jaffa in 1903. It was a sub-
sidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust and was called
the Anglo-Palestine Company, a name changed later
to the Anglo-Palestine Bank. This was the first bank to
introduce Western conceptions of credit into the Holy
Land, and its success was proved by the fact that within
a few years it opened branches in five other cities in
Palestine as well as one in Beyrout. The next step was in
the field of education. A modern secondary school was
built in 1905 by an English Zionist, Alderman Jacob
Moser, on a site on the border of Jaffa provided by the
Jewish National Fund. It was called the "Herzl Gym-
nasium" (used in the German sense of higher-grade
school) and was the first modern educational establish-
ment in which all subjects were taught in Hebrew. The
Organisation also founded an institution for applied
arts and crafts in Jerusalem, called the Bezalel, which
was a contribution to solving the problem of poverty
among those dependent upon the Halukah. The Bezalel
taught carpet- weaving, basket-making, Damascus metal-
work, and other crafts, and it settled at Ben-Shemen a
group of Yemenite Jews, who combined the making of
carpets and filigree ornaments with market-gardening
and poultry-rearing.

ACTIVITIES OF THE PALESTINE OFFICE

The systematic development of colonisation in Pales-
iby the Zionist Organisation began in 1908 with the

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM, 1905-1914 65

establishment of the Palestine Office in Jaffa under the
direction of Dr. Ruppin. The first undertaking promoted
by this office was the building of a Jewish residential
suburb on the border of Jaffa with the help of a loan of
10,000 given by the Jewish National Fund. The suburb
was named Tel-Aviv ( cc HiU of Spring") and grew into
the most populous city in the country. The next creation
was the Palestine Land Development Company, whose
purpose was to facilitate the purchase, sale, and develop-
ment of land. The P.L.D.C. took over the management
of two plots of the Jewish National Fund on the Sea of
Tiberias, Kinnereth (1908) and Degania (1909), where
farmsteads were established for the training of Jewish
workers under expert direction. The first training farm
for girls devoted to poultry-rearing and market-gardening
was also established at Kinnereth.

ORIGINS OF COLLECTIVE SETTLEMENTS

From the year 1905 there was a new wave of Jewish
immigration into Palestine, the Second Wave (Ally ah}.
It consisted of young workers from Russia, who, after the
pogroms of that year and the suppression of the Revolu-
tion, had abandoned all hope of freedom under the
Tsardom and resolved to devote themselves to the revival
of their ancestral country. They were animated by
Socialist ideals, they wished to see Jewish land cultivated
only by Jewish hands, and they were looked at askance
by the older generation of colonists, who employed
Arab labour. They found that Jewish settlements were
being protected from attacks on the part of Bedouin
marauders by unreliable Arab watchmen, and so they
took over the task of protection themselves. They created
an organisation of mounted watchmen, Hashomer> many
of whose members died heroic deaths in lonely patrols at
night. They were not concerned about their own material
advancement; they wished to become farmers, not in
their own personal interest but in the national interest
of their people. A new form of colonisation was therefore

66 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

created to suit their ideals: the co-operative or collective
farm, called Kvutzflh (or "group 55 ). All the members of
the group shared in the ownership of the estate and drew
the same remuneration; any profit that was produced
belonged to all in common and was devoted to the
further development of the farm for the equal benefit
of all

The first co-operative farm was established in 1909, on
Jewish National Fund land at Degania, on the shore of
the Sea of Tiberias. It yielded good results and was soon
followed by the formation of other co-operatives in other
parts of the country. Most of them proved successful,
but a notable exception was that founded at Merhavia,
on J.N.F. land in the Valley of Jezreel, by Dr. Franz
Oppenheimer, who was introduced to the Congress of
1903 by Herzl. Merhavia failed to pay its way, and after
the First World War it was divided between two groups
of settlers. The Zionist Organisation also promoted the
agricultural development of the country in other ways.
It helped afforestation by planting olive trees at Hulda
and Ben Shemen; it provided agrarian credits; and it
helped in the establishment of an Agricultural Experi-
ment Station (financed by American Jews) near Haifa.
By the year 1914 there were altogether 43 Jewish
agricultural settlements, of which 14 were directly due
to Zionist effort.

HEBREW SCHOOLS AND LANGUAGE CONFLICT

But it was not only in the economic field that the
Zionist Organisation laid the foundations of the future
Jewish National Home. It also performed an invaluable
service in the cultural field. In the schools maintained by
Jewish organisations from England, France, and Austria,
the language was English, French, and German respect-
tively. But in all the schools in the agricultural settle-
ments, as well as in the other institutions established under
Zionist auspices, the language of instruction was Hebrew.
When the German IBifeverein opened some schools it

POLITICAL AND PRACTICAL ZIONISM, 1905-1914 67

also adopted Hebrew in most of them. But in 1913, when
a Jewish Technical Institute was being built at Haifa on
land of the J.N.F., with funds provided partly by the
Hilfsverein and partly by other Jewish organisations and
individuals, the Hilfsverein representatives, who had a
majority on the Board of Governors, insisted that
German should have the priority over Hebrew in the
Institute. The result was that most of the teachers and
children left the Hilfsverein schools and entered new
schools that were promptly opened with the support of
the Zionist Organisation and the Jews of Palestine, and in
which Hebrew was the sole medium of instruction. It
was an impressive demonstration of attachment to the
Jewish national tongue, which caused the German
representatives to agree to the demands of the Zionist
Governors of the Institute. But the compromise arrived
at proved unnecessary, as this language conflict was
swept away by a far greater struggle, the First World
War, which led to the advancement of Jewish national
aspirations in a manner hitherto undreamt of even by
the most optimistic Zionist.

CHAPTER V

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST
1914-1920

THE FIRST WORLD WAR

A GREAT and fundamental change in the fortunes
of the Zionist movement was brought about by the
First World War. We have seen that until 1914.5 although
a number of Jewish agricultural settlements and schools
had been established in Palestine, there was not the least
prospect of any possible approach towards the achieve-
ment of the Jewish national ideal owing to the inflexible
opposition of the Ottoman Government. The war
resulted in the liberation of Palestine from Turkish rule
by British arms, and the way was thus opened, under
British administration, for the possibility of the systematic
advance of the ideal towards the stage of fulfilment. The
period of transition was one of suffering in the country
itself, and of anxious and strenuous effort outside it, but
the hardships and worries of a few years were quickly
effaced by the hopes aroused by the dawn of a new era.

TURKISH OPPRESSION OF YISHUV

No sooner had Turkey thrown in her lot with the
Central Powers than the Generalissimo in Palestine,
Djemal Pasha, began a policy of ruthless oppression
against the Jews. He issued a manifesto against "the
subversive element aiming at the creation of a Jewish
government in the Palestinian part of the Ottoman
Empire." He ordered the Anglo-Palestine Bank to be
closed and the watchmen's organisation, "Hashomer,"
to be dissolved. He forbade the use of Hebrew for street
names and shop-signs in Tel-Aviv, and threatened those
who put Jewish National Fund stamps on their letters
with the penalty of death. All Jews who were subjects
oFany of the Allied Powers were offered the alternative

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 69

either of becoming Ottoman citizens and serving in the
Ottoman Army or of leaving the country. Some
thousands got away safely to Egypt, but hundreds were
deported to Syria amid serious privations that caused
many deaths. Many Jews, officials, and others, were
arrested and tried on charges of espionage or siding with
the enemy; some were tortured, and others languished in
jail for months. One of the heroic figures of that time
was a young woman, Sara Aaronson, of Zichron Jacob,
who bravely refused under torture to divulge anything
about the intelligence that she had conveyed at night to
a British submarine that used to call near Athlit, and
took refuge in suicide. When the Allied forces began
their offensive against the south of Palestine, all the Jews
of Tel- Aviv and the neighbouring area about 5,000 in
all were evacuated to the north, and many died from
exposure. Moreover, the Jewish population also suffered
from hunger and disease, aggravated by a locust plague
in 1917, and death would have made even more exten-
sive ravages but for the material relief despatched by the
Jews of America.

The Zionist world was divided into three parts the
countries of the Allied Powers, those of the Central
Powers, and the neutral countries. The headquarters
were then in Berlin, and in order to maintain relations
between the constituent bodies of the Zionist Organisa-
tion a special Bureau was opened at Copenhagen. The
head office of the Jewish National Fund was removed
from Cologne to The Hague.

THE JEWISH REGIMENT

Among the Palestinian refugees in Egypt there soon
arose the desire to fight on behalf of the Allied Powers.
The leading spirit was Captain Joseph Trumpeldor
(1880-1920), a brave, adventurous Russian Jew, who
had lost an arm while fighting in the Russian Army
against the Japanese at Port Arthur. He raised a con-
tingent called the Zion Mule Corps, which played a

JO A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

useful part in the Gallipoli campaign, until it was
dissolved in March, 1916. The agitation for the formation
of a Jewish regiment was then conducted in London by
Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880-1940), with the result that
two battalions of Jewish volunteers were organised.
"The Judaeans," as they were called, were recruited
from young Russian Jews in England, as well as from
Jews in the United States, Canada, and the Argentine,
in addition to the remnant of the Zion Mule Corps. They
arrived in Palestine in February, 1918, two months after
General Allenby's victorious entry into Jerusalem, and
thereupon many local Jews eagerly enlisted to form a
third battalion, bringing up the total strength to 5,000.
About one-third of this total took part in the pursuit of
the Turkish troops into Transjordan, and acquitted
themselves with such distinction that they were men-
tioned in despatches. The country was completely
cleared of Turkish troops in the following September,
and thus was brought to an end the Ottoman regime that
had lasted over 400 years.

FIRST NEGOTIATIONS WITH BRITISH STATESMEN

Long before this event a group of Zionists in England,
besides many other people, began to envisage the defeat
of the Central Powers as the prelude to the realisation
of the age-long yearnings of the Jewish people. There
was no member of the Zionist Executive in England at
the outbreak of the war. The initiative was therefore
taken by Dr. Chaim Weizmann (born 1874), a member
of the Greater "Actions Committee/ 5 who was then a
lecturer in chemistry at the Manchester University.
Thanks to the friendly offices of C. P. Scott, the Editor of
the Manchester Guardian, who was a convinced believer
in Zionism, Dr. Weizmann was introduced, at the end
of 1914, to two leading members of the British Cabinet,
Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Herbert (now Viscount)
Samuel, from both of whom he received a sympathetic
hearing. Dr. Weizmana first met Mr. Lloyd George at

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 JI

a time when there was a serious shortage of acetone,
which was essential for the production of shells. Mr. Lloyd
George, who was Chairman of the War Munitions com-
mittee, explained the situation, and shortly afterwards
Dr. Weizmann elaborated a process for the making of
acetone. Mr. Lloyd George, in his War Memories, relates
that when he proposed to Dr. Weizmann that he would
like to recommend him for some honour in appreciation
of his great services to the State, the Zionist leader
replied that he wanted nothing for himself but wished
something to be done for his people. "He then/ 5 con-
tinues the account, "explained his aspirations as to the
repatriation of the Jews to the sacred land they had made
famous. That was the fount and origin of the famous
declaration about the National Home for Jews in
Palestine." This somewhat picturesque version must be
read in the light of the following sober facts.

Early in 1915, Mr. Herbert Samuel submitted to the
Cabinet what Lord Oxford, then Prime Minister,
described in his Diary as "a dithyrambic memorandum/'
urging that in the carving up of the Turks' Asiatic
dominions Great Britain should take Palestine, "into
which the scattered Jews would in time swarm back from
all quarters of the globe, and in due course obtain Home
Rule." A year later, in the spring of 1916, the British
Government was giving the question serious considera-
tion, for among the State Papers published by the
Soviet Government a few years after its establishment
there is a document showing that the British Ambassador
in Petrograd was requested by Sir Edward Grey to
ascertain from the Russian Government its considered
view on the matter. Discussion of the question with a
leading member of the British Government was facili-
tated, when, also in 1916, Dr. Weizmann received an
appointment in London as Director of the Admiralty
Laboratories. In this capacity he came into contact with
Mr. Arthur (later Lord) Balfour, at that time First Lord
of the Admiralty, who evinced a keen interest in the idea
of the Jewish resettlement in Palestine, Dr. Weizmann

j 2 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

had already been joined In London by two members of
the Zionist Executive, Dr. Tschlenow 1 and Mr. Nahum
Sokolow, of whom the latter played an important part
in the developments that followed.

PRELIMINARY ZIONIST PROPOSALS

It was not until October, 1916, that the Zionist leaders
first put forward a "proposal for a new administration of
Palestine and for Jewish resettlement of Palestine in
accordance with the aspirations of the Zionist move-
ment. 55 The principal features of this programme were
"the recognition of a separate Jewish nationality or
national unit in Palestine, 55 "autonomy in exclusively
Jewish matters/ 5 and "the establishment of a Jewish
chartered company for the resettlement of Palestine by
Jewish settlers. 55 The informal conversations with in-
dividual statesmen gave place to discussion of a more
formal character after Mr. Lloyd George had become
Prime Minister and Mr. Balfour Foreign Secretary. The
turning point came on February yth, 1917, when a
number of representative Zionists first met Sir Mark
Sykes, who was in charge of the Middle Eastern Depart-
ment of the Foreign Office. Sykes had already negotiated
on behalf of Great Britain, in May, 1916, the Anglo-
French Agreement known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement,
which did not become known to the Zionist leaders until
some time afterwards. According to this Agreement,
which was subsequently scrapped, Palestine was to be
divided into three parts: the northern part to go to
France, Haifa and Acre to Britain, and the southern
part and the Holy Places to be under the control of an
international regime. Dr. Weizmann and Mr. Sokolow
were introduced to Sykes before the end of 1916 by Mr.
James Malcolm, a British Armenian and member of the
Armenian National delegation to the Peace Conference
of 1919.

As the matter entailed negotiations with the French

1 Efed in London, January gist, 1918.

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 73

and Italian Governments, Mr. Sokolow went to Paris
and Rome and obtained expressions of sympathy with
Zionism from them both as well as from the Pope. The
Zionist leaders both in Russia and in the United States
were kept informed of the course of the negotiations, and
when Mr. Balfour visited America in the Spring of 1917
he discussed the question with President Wilson, and also
with Justice Louis D. Brandeis, of the Supreme Court,
who was Chairman of the Provisional Executive Com-
mittee for General Zionist Affairs (a body intended to
act temporarily for the Executive of the World Zionist
Organisation).

After the discussions had made some progress the
Presidents of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and
the Anglo-Jewish Association published a letter in The
Times of May 24th, 1917, in which they publicly dis-
sociated themselves from the Zionist proposals. Their
letter was an attack upon the fundamental principles of
Zionism and an attempt to discredit the Zionist leaders.
It provoked a storm of indignation in the Anglo-Jewish
community, as it was obviously intended to frustrate the
efforts to obtain a declaration of sympathy with Zionist
aspirations from the British Government. The result was
a revolt on the part of the majority of the Board of
Deputies, who brought about the election of a new
President, Sir Stuart Samuel (1856-1926)5 and other
honorary officers of pro-Zionist sympathies.

THE FORMULATION OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION

In July, 1917, the Zionist leaders submitted to the
Government a formula embodying "the principle of
recognising Palestine as the National Home of the Jewish
people" and postulating "as essential for the realisation
of the principle the grant of internal autonomy to the
Jewish nationality in Palestine, freedom of immigration
for Jews, and the establishment of a Jewish National
Colonising Corporation for the resettlement and eco-
nomic development of the country." The Cabinet, which

74 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

had received antagonistic representations from certain
prominent English Jews, modified the Zionist draft and
submitted their own version to representatives of both
sides with a covering letter, requesting their views in
writing. Dr. Weizmann and Mr. Sokolow accepted the
revised version, which contained the phrase, "the
establishment in Palestine of a National Home/ 3
though they would have preferred, as being in stricter
consonance with the traditional hope of Israel, "the
reconstitution of Palestine as the National Home."
The Chief Rabbi, Dr. J. H. Hertz (1872-1946), and Sir
Stuart Samuel, were fundamentally in agreement with
the Zionist point of view, but the anti-Zionist leaders
took objection to the formula, particularly to the word
"national." The result was that the Cabinet made further
modifications of the formula, and there was delay in
giving official approval to the final text, partly owing to
opposition in its own circle, especially from Edwin S.
Montagu (1879-1924), the Jewish Secretary of State for
India. To expedite matters, Justice Brandeis approached
President Wilson, who sent a personal message to the
British Government, intimating his agreement with the
idea of a pro-Zionist pronouncement. At last, on
November 2nd, 1917, Mr. Balfour addressed a letter to
Lord Rothschild, containing the following declaration:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use
their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object,
it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed
by Jews in any other country."

MOTIVES OF THE DECLARATION

In promulgating this historic statement, henceforth
known as the Balfour Declaration, the British Govern-
ment were clearly animated by both ideal and material
considerations: whilst willing to help the Jews to achieve
their national aspirations, they certainly also took into

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 75

account the effect which such a Declaration must pro-
duce upon the Jews in other countries, especially
America, where sympathy at a critical stage in the war
was of considerable value. Indeed, Mr. Lloyd George,
Prime Minister at the time, told the Palestine Royal
Commission in 1937, that the launching of the Balfour
Declaration was "due to propagandist reasons/' He said
that "it was believed that Jewish sympathies or the
reverse would make a substantial difference one way or
the other to the Allied cause. In particular, Jewish
sympathy would confirm the support of American
Jewry/' He further stated:

"The Zionist leaders gave us a definite promise that, if the Allies
committed themselves to give facilities for the establishment of a
national home for the Jews in Palestine, they would do their best to
rally Jewish sentiment and support throughout the world to the
Allied cause. They kept their word."

INTERPRETING THE DECLARATION

The Declaration was hailed by Jews all over the world
with a jubilant and almost frenzied enthusiasm, as
though it betokened the imminent end of their exile and
the veritable fulfilment of Biblical prophecies. Its terms
and phrases were variously commented upon, but all
agreed that it marked a turning-point in the destinies of
Jewry. The expression "National Home 55 was unknown
in political terminology, but it had been taken from the
Basle Programme and therefore needed no definition.
As for the two provisos, they were designed to silence the
objections in two possible quarters among the Arabs in
Palestine, who might fear a curtailment of their rights,
and among Jews outside Palestine, who might be
apprehensive about their own political status in the
future. The proviso in regard to the Jews clearly implied
that the National Home would be invested with specific
political rights of its own, for if it were merely intended
that Jews should settle on the same footing as immigrants
of any other nation, such a proviso was unnecessary. The

j6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Government derived the maximum benefit from the
Declaration by carrying out an extensive propaganda
campaign through a specially created Jewish Depart-
ment of the Ministry of Information, which cabled news
items to friendly or neutral centres, whence they were
transmitted to the capitals of the Central Powers.
According to the Royal Commission's Report, millions
of leaflets "were dropped from the air on German and
Austrian towns and , widely distributed through the
Jewish belt from Poland to the Black Sea."

COUNTER-ACTION BY CENTRAL POWERS

The Balfour Declaration was not issued until both the
French and Italian Governments had signified their
approval, and it was also endorsed by the other Allied
Powers* President Wilson likewise expressed his approval,
and in 1922 both Houses of the United States Congress
unanimously adopted a resolution in favour of the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people. The Central Powers were moved to
counter-action. The Austrian Government announced
that it would use its influence in favour of Zionism with
the Turks when the war was over. The Turkish Grand
Vizier, Talaat Pasha, promised free immigration for
Jews into Palestine, liberty of economic opportunity, the
possibility of local self-administration, and free develop-
ment of Jewish culture, but he stipulated that "all
immigration must, of course, be kept within the natural
limits of the absorptive capacity of the country for the
time being. 53 This Turkish declaration was officially
endorsed on January 5th, 1918 by the German Govern-
ment through the medium of the Deputy-Secretary of
its Foreign Office,

ULTIMATE ESTABLISHMENT OF JEWISH STATE

Now, what was the meaning of the Balfour Declara-
tion? According to the Royal Commission, who examined
all die records bearing on the question, "the words 'the

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 77

establishment in Palestine of a National Home* were the
outcome of a compromise between those Ministers who
contemplated the establishment of a Jewish State and
those who did not." Mr. Lloyd George stated in evidence
that "it was contemplated that when the time arrived
for according representative institutions to Palestine, if
the Jews had meanwhile responded to the opportunity
afforded them by the idea of a national home and had
become a definite majority of the inhabitants, then
Palestine would thus become a Jewish Commonwealth* 5 ' 1
Declarations to this effect had been made by Viscount
Cecil, a member of the Cabinet at the time, by General
Smuts, a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, and by
President Wilson, all within the first two years after the
Declaration was issued. Mr. Winston Churchill en-
visaged "in our own lifetime by the banks of the Jordan
a Jewish State under the protection of the British
Crown, which might comprise three or four millions of
Jews/' 2 and Mr. Herbert Samuel spoke of "the pro-
motion . . . of Jewish immigration and of Jewish land
settlement, . . . and the fullest measure of local self-
government, in order that with the minimum of delay the
country may become a purely self-governing Common-
wealth under the auspices of an established Jewish
majority. 5 ' 8 Leading British newspapers were equally
explicit in their comments on the Declaration.

THE ZIONIST COMMISSION

The first step taken in furtherance of the objects of the
Declaration was the departure of a Zionist Commission
from England, under the leadership of Dr. Weizmann, to
Palestine, after the southern part of the country had been
redeemed by General Allenby's forces. It consisted of
representatives of the Jews of Great Britain, France, and
Italy, who were joined at a later stage by American and
Russian Zionists. The principal objects of the Com-

1 Report of Palestine Royal Commission, p. 24.

2 Illustrated Sunday Herald, February 8th, 1920.
8 The Zionist Bulletin, November 5th 3 1919.

78 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

mission were to act as the medium between the British
authorities and the Jewish population, to organise and
administer the relief work, to assist in restoring the
Jewish colonies, to help the Jewish organisations and
institutions to resume their former activities, and to aid
in establishing friendly relations ^yvith the Arabs and
other non-Jews. The Zionist Commission, which reached
Palestine in April, 1918, was faced by a formidable task,
as the Jews had suffered severely from hunger and disease
and from the requisitioning of their crops and cattle by
the Turks. After the entire country had been delivered it
was found that the Jewish population had been reduced
to about 55,000.

The Commission was at first able to do little more than
distribute relief to the Jewish population and co-operate
in the recruiting of volunteers for the third Jewish
battalion. It was hampered in its- activities by the
Military Administration, styled Occupied Enemy Terri-
tory Administration, which took no official note of the
Balfour Declaration and was opposed to the laying of the
foundation stones of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Foreign Office had therefore to send a special
instruction to ensure the holding of this ceremony. The
event took place within the sound of guns, in the summer
of 1918, on Mount Scopus, in the presence of General
Allenby, representatives of the French and Italian con-
tingents in the army of liberation, and the heads of the
various religious communities. It was a symbolic act of
inspiring significance, but seven years had to elapse
before the inauguration of the University could be
celebrated.

ARAB REPRESENTATIONS TO PEACE CONFERENCE

As one of the objects of the Zionist Commission was to
help in establishing friendly relations with the Arabs,
Dr. Weizmann, accompanied by Major W. Ormsby-Gore
(now Lprd Harlech), who was attached to the Zionist
Commission as Political Officer for the Government,

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST, 1914-1920 79

went to Akaba in June, 1918, to meet Emir Felsal,
a son of Hussein, the Sherif of Mecca. Hussein had
revolted against the Turks after a correspondence in 1915
with Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commis-
sioner in Egypt, who, on behalf of the British Govern-
ment, had promised independence after the war to those
Arab territories that gave assistance to the Allies. The
area within which independence was to be recognised
was geographically defined and did not include Palestine,
apart from which the Arabs of that country neither
revolted nor assisted the Allies. 1

Feisal fully understood that Palestine was excluded
from the promise, for when he came to London in the
following winter he signed an agreement on January 3rd,
1919, as the representative of "the Arab State," with
Dr. Weizmann as representing Palestine, clearly showing
that he regarded this country as reserved for Jewish
settlement, and stipulating for the help of the Zionist
Organisation in the economic development of "the Arab
State. 33 Nearly five weeks later, on February 6th, Feisal
appeared as the head of a Hedjaz Delegation before the
Peace Conference, at which he asked for the independ-
ence of the Arabic areas enumerated in his memoran-
dum, with the explicit exception of Palestine. A week
later the Peace Conference received a Syrian Delegation,
the head of which, Chekri Ganem, made a long state-
ment, in the course of which he said, with regard to the
Zionists 3 claim: "Let them settle in Palestine, but in an
autonomous Palestine, connected with Syria by the sole
bond of federation. ... If they form the majority there,
they will be the rulers. If they are in the minority, they
will be represented in the Government in proportion to
their numbers. 332

1 The exclusion of Palestine was confirmed by Sir Henry McMahon in a letter
to The Times 9 July 23rd, 1937, and was borne out by T. E. Lawrence hi his Seven
Pillars of Wisdom (1935 edition, footnote to p. 276). See also the Churchill White
Paper of 1922.

a D, Hunter Miller, My Diary of the Peace Conference, Vol. XIV, pp. 389-415,
quoted in The Truth about the Peace Treaties, by D. Lloyd George, Vol. II, p. 1,057.

8o A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

ZIONIST PROPOSALS TO PEACE CONFERENCE

The Zionist leaders submitted their demands to the
Peace Conference in a detailed statement, dated
February 3rd, 1919. Its main proposals were that "the
historic title of the Jewish people to Palestine and the
right of the Jews to constitute in Palestine their National
Home" be recognised; that the sovereignty of the country
be vested in the League of Nations and the government
entrusted to Great Britain as Mandatory of the League;
and that "Palestine shall be placed under such political,
administrative, and economic conditions as will secure
the establishment there of the Jewish National Home,
and ultimately render possible the creation of an auto-
nomous Commonwealth/ 3 This document was signed
not only by Mr. Sokolow and Dr. Weizmann, as the
heads of the Zionist Organisation, but also by repre-
sentatives of the Zionists of America and Russia, as well
as of the Jewish population of Palestine. Three weeks
later the requests in that document were reinforced by
the speeches made by the two Zionist leaders, by Mr.
Ussishkin (who spoke in Hebrew), on behalf of the Jews
of Russia, and by Mr. Andre Spiers, who represented the
Zionists of France, at a session of the Peace Conference
at which Mr. Balfour and Lord Milner were the British
representatives. Thereupon Feisal wrote a letter to
Professor Felix Frankfurter (now a judge in the United
States Supreme Court of Justice), a member of the
Zionist Delegation, in the course of which he said: "Our
deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the
proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organisa-
tion to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as
moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as
we are concerned, to help them through; we will wish the
Jews a most hearty welcome home." But Palestine was
only one of a multitude of questions with which the
victorious Powers had to deal, and more than a year
elapsed before its future was decided upon.

PALESTINE AS BRITISH TRUST ? 1914-1920 8l

FIRST OUTBURST OF ARAB HOSTILITY

This delay was most unfortunate, as the Military
Administration continued to ignore the Balfbur Declara-
tion and to maintain an attitude of hostility to Jewish
aspirations. The effect upon the Arabs was so prejudicial
that Mr. Balfour despatched a detailed instruction to
Jerusalem on August 4th, 1919, to remind the Military
Administration of the Government's policy and of their
duty. The note stated that the American and French
Governments were equally pledged to the support of the
establishment of the Jewish National Home and that this
should be emphasised to the Arab leaders at every
opportunity. But it produced only a transient effect, as
the mischief had already gone too far. There was an
Arab National Committee in Damascus, which was
opposed both to Syria coming under a French mandate
and to Palestine under a British one; and at its instiga-
tion a band of Bedouin made an armed attack on March
ist, 1920, upon Metulla and Tel Hai, isolated Jewish
settlements in the extreme north of Palestine. A heroic
fight was put up by Captain Trumpeldor and his little
band of comrades, but after he and six others were killed
both places had to be temporarily abandoned. The
Damascus Committee then proclaimed Feisal, who was
in the city, King of Syria and Palestine, and thereupon
followed anti-Jewish demonstrations in Jerusalem and
Jaffa. The unrest increased, and upon the approach of
Easter there was a three days 5 attack (April 4th-6th) by
Arabs upon Jews in Jerusalem, in which six Jews and
six Arabs were killed. The military authorities had been
warned of the probability of the outbreak, but took
no precautions. On the contrary, they arrested the
organisers and members of the Jewish self-defence
corps and sentenced them to long terms of imprison-
ment (which, however, were quashed later by the Army
Council) .

82 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

CONFERMENT OF PALESTINE MANDATE

These events precipitated the eagerly awaited decision.
On April 24th, 1920, the Supreme Council of the Peace
Conference (on which Great Britain was represented by
Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Balfour, and Lord Curzon), met
at San Remo, and resolved that the Balfour Declaration
should be incorporated in the Treaty of Peace with
Turkey, and that the Mandate for Palestine should be
allotted to Great Britain. The way was thus cleared for
the termination of military rule in Palestine and its
replacement by a Civil Administration. "What you want
in Palestine/' said Mr. Lloyd George to Dr. Weizmann
and Mr. Sokolow, who were awaiting the decision, "is
men who really care for the National Home policy/'
Mr. Herbert Samuel was also present, as he was on his
way back from Palestine, to which he had gone at the
invitation of General Allenby to give advice on matters
of administration and finance. An understanding was
soon reached that Mr. Samuel, who had shown a keen
interest in the Zionist question for some years and taken
part in the framing of the Zionist proposals, should be
appointed as the first High Commissioner in Palestine.
His appointment was announced shortly afterwards, and
on July ist, 1920, he landed, as Sir Herbert Samuel, at
Jaffa from a British warship to inaugurate what the
Jewish people hoped would be not only a new, but a
better era.

CHAPTER VI

EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT
19*7- 1 9*5

JEWRY AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Now that we have followed the sequence of military
and political events that led to the setting-up in
Palestine of a British Civil Administration, whose pri-
mary obligation was to promote the establishment of the
Jewish National Home, 1 let us survey the course of
developments within the Zionist movement. It was a
tragic paradox that the First World War, which had
resulted in giving the Jewish people the right to recon-
stitute itself as a nation in Palestine, had rendered large
sections of it unable to avail themselves of that right or
unable to help in its realisation, owing either to political
changes or to economic conditions. The Jews of Russia,
previously the mainstay of the Zionist cause, were now
sundered in two. Those under the rule of Soviet Russia,
numbering nearly three million, were completely cut
off from any association with the Jews in the rest of the
world, and were forbidden, under penalties of imprison-
ment and deportation, to take any part in Zionism,
which was proscribed as a "counter-revolutionary
movement." On the other hand, those who found them-
selves within the frontiers of the Polish Republic, as
well as those in the other lands liberated from the Tsarist
yoke, namely, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and
also Bessarabia (annexed by Rumania), were freely able
to engage in Zionist activities; but their material plight
made it impossible for them for some years to render any
appreciable contribution, except in respect of man-
power, to the fulfilment of their national aspirations.
Jews in Germany and other parts of Central Europe

1 Palestine Royal Commission Report, pp. 38-9.

84 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

were in a similar position. Thus, the brunt of the task
was inevitably shouldered by the Jews of the West,
particularly by those in the English-speaking countries.
The Balfour Declaration gave a powerful incentive to
the growth of Zionist societies and the creation of new
ones in all parts of the world where Jews were free to
profess their adhesion to the Zionist idea. The greatest
progress was made in Great Britain and the British
Dominions, but the movement also underwent immedi-
ate expansion in the United States and other parts of
America, as well as in the lands of the Orient and North
Africa. In all these different parts of the globe Jews
began to look upon the Zionist ideal as capable of
achievement in some measure, although many still
remained indifferent or opposed. The only countries in
which, apart from Soviet Russia, the movement was
actually forbidden were Turkey, because Palestine had
formerly belonged to the Ottoman Empire, and Iraq,
owing to local sympathy with the Palestine Arabs.

ESTABLISHMENT OF ZIONIST HEADQUARTERS IN LONDON

In order to provide the machinery for conducting the
political work necessary for obtaining the Balfour
Declaration, a Zionist Bureau was opened in London in
July, 1917. It was under the direction of Dr. Weizmann
and Mr. Sokolow, who took steps, soon after the war, to
convene a Conference in London of delegates from all
Allied and neutral countries. This Conference, which
was held in February, 1919, elected Dr. Weizmann on
the Zionist Executive in place of Dr. Tschlenow, who
had died a year before. The Zionist leaders delivered
their reports on the proposals that they had submitted
to the Peace Conference, and the delegates empowered
them to continue their efforts. The Conference decided
upon the establishment of the Central Office of the
Zionist Organisation in London to take the place of the
provisional Bureau, and increased the representative
character of the Zionist Commission in Palestine.

EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT, 1917-1925 85

THE QUESTION OF JEWISH RIGHTS

The Conference also devoted serious consideration to
the position of the Jews in the various countries of
Central and Eastern Europe, as it was anxious that they
should receive not only the rights of citizenship but also
those of a national minority. In most of these countries
Jewish National Councils had been formed immediately
after the war to safeguard the civil status of the Jewish
population, and delegations were sent to Paris for the
purpose of formulating proposals to the Peace Confer-
ence. The Zionist Conference accordingly decided to
send a delegation to Paris in order to organise these
various delegations as a single body; and there was thus
set up, under the leadership of Sokolow and Leo
Motzkin, the Committee of Jewish Delegations, which
co-operated with Jewish representative organisations of
Western Europe and America in securing minority
rights for millions of Jews. These rights (which were also
granted to other racial, religious, and linguistic minor-
ities) were primarily intended to enable the Jews to use
their own language in private or public, to maintain their
own charitable, religious, social, and educational in-
stitutions, and also, in towns where they formed a
considerable proportion, to receive an equitable share
of the public funds devoted to such institutions. The
League of Nations was entrusted with the duty of
watching over the implementation of these rights, but,
unfortunately, owing to its inadequate machinery and
cumbersome procedure, they were flouted by most of
the States that had promised to observe them. Thus, the
hopes that the Jews had reposed in the Minorities
Treaties were largely disappointed.

THE CONFERENCE OF 1 920

The Conference of 1919 was followed by a much more
important one, also in London, in July, 1920. This was
the most representative Zionist gathering since the

86 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Congress of 1913, it was attended by over 250 delegates
from all parts of the world, and it afforded the first
opportunity of a free and full exchange of views on all
questions resulting from the new political situation.
Justice Brandeis, who headed a large delegation from
the United States, was elected Honorary President of
the Zionist Organisation,, Dr. Weizmann was made
President, and Mr. Sokolow, Chairman of the Executive.
The Conference, of which Dr. Max Nordau was the
Honorary President, adopted a great number of resolu-
tions both on questions of policy and on the measures
necessary for the translation of policy into practice. These
resolutions affirmed the determination of the Jewish
people in Palestine to live in peace and friendship with
the non-Jewish population, declared that the funda-
mental principle of Zionist land policy was that all land
on which Jewish colonisation took place should eventu-
ally become the common property of the Jewish people,
and designated the Jewish National Fund as the organ
for carrying out this land policy in town and country.

The Conference also dealt with the question of immi-
gration into Palestine, which had now become a practical
problem of particular urgency. It was decided that a
Central Immigration Office should be established in
Jerusalem without delay, and that Palestine Offices
should be opened in all countries expected to furnish
contingents of young settlers, who were called Halutzim
(pioneers) . These Offices were to be controlled by local
committees representative of the various Zionist parties
(and composed in proportion to their numbers), and
they were to ensure that those selected had received
adequate training (called Hachsharah] either as agri-
culturists or as artisans, that they were able to speak
Hebrew, and were physically fit.

ESTABLISHMENT OF KEREN HAYESOD

The nature of the fund by means of which the great
work of colonisation, apart from the purchase of land,

EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT, 1917-1925 8j

was to be financed, gave rise to a serious controversy
between the Zionist Executive and a group of the
American Zionists. Besides the Jewish National Fund,
which was devoted principally to land purchase, another
fund, called the Preparation Fund, had been created in
July, 1917, and its name was subsequently changed to
the Palestine Restoration Fund (Keren Geulah}. The
purpose of this fund was to finance the work in London
and in Paris and especially the activities of the Zionist
Commission in Palestine, and during the first three
years of its existence it had yielded over 600,000. It was
now considered necessary to create a much more
substantial and permanent fund, entailing some sacrifice
on the part of the contributors. This "immigration and
colonisation fund" was named Keren Hayesod, or
Foundation Fund. The Conference aimed at raising
25,000,000 in one year from Jews contributing on the
basis of a tithe of their capital, and also of their income.
At least 20 per cent, of the money collected was to be
given to the Jewish National Fund, and of the remainder
not more than a third was to be spent on immigration,
education, and other social services, and two-thirds
"invested in permanent national institutions or economic
undertakings."

But the Administration of the Zionist Organisation of
America were strongly opposed to this arrangement,
which they called a "commingling of funds." They
insisted that the whole income of the Keren Hayesod
should be devoted solely to the communal or social
services, and that the financing of commercial under-
takings should be left to private investors, as they
thought that economic enterprises would suffer if they
were dependent on donation funds. The Conference,
however, decided that the Keren Hayesod should be
established and devoted to both social services and
economic undertakings. The consequence was that
Justice Brandeis and his supporters refased to co-operate
or to serve on the Executive. But at the American Zionist
Convention in the following year in Cleveland a new

88 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Administration was elected which was pledged to sup-
port the Executive and the Keren Hayesod.

The London Conference of 1920 also appointed a
Reorganisation Commission, mainly in response to
American criticism, for the purpose of adjusting the
administrative apparatus in London to the Organisa-
tion's income, and also of overhauling the machinery of
the Zionist Commission. The Central Office was re-
organised so as to consist of five departments Political
Affairs, Organisation, Finance, Immigration, and Pub-
licity and some changes were also made in the office
and the composition of the Zionist Commission.

THE TWELFTH ZIONIST CONGRESS

The two London assemblies, however, were only
preparatory stages towards the Twelfth Zionist Congress.
This, the first Congress since 1913, met in what was then
the liberal and congenial atmosphere of Carlsbad, in
September, 1921. It was much larger, more imposing,
and more animated than any Congress that had pre-
ceded it; but it was also different in composition. Far
more countries were represented, but Russia was not
among them, and Palestine had sent a bigger delegation
than ever before. The British Ambassador in Prague
attended the festive inaugural session to convey a
message of good wishes from his Government and to
repeat the terms of the Balfour Declaration, which were
received with enthusiastic and prolonged applause. 1
The deliberations were rendered all the more difficult
by the great concourse of delegates and the limited time
within which the business had to be completed, but by
transferring all technical problems and business details,
as well as the drafting of all resolutions, to a number of
committees composed of representatives of all parties,
and by continuing some debates until the small hours of

1 All subsequent Congresses were greeted at the opening session by a diplomatic
representative of the British Government until 1937. The White Paper of 1939
would have made such a ceremonial act at the Congress of that year embarrassing
for even the most accomplished diplomatist^ and the atmosphere of the Congress
in December, 1946, was certainly unfavourable.

EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT, igiJ-IQ2^ 89

the morning, the Congress completed Its stupendous
labours in a fortnight. There were present 445 elected
delegates (besides many ex officio delegates) , representing
770,000 Shekel-payers (compared with 130,000 in 1913)*
The delegates were divided into three main groups:
306 General Zionists, 97 of the Mizrachi, and 38 of the
Labour parties. The General Zionists occupied the
centre of the hall, the Mizrachi sat facing the right of the
President, and the Labour delegates were on his left
an arrangement observed at all subsequent Congresses,
although from 1923 there were additions to the "wings,"
as the parties on either side of the centre were called.

CONGRESS RESOLUTIONS

The Congress adopted an elaborate programme of
work, embracing all phases of the new life in the Land of
Israel, as well as the related activities in the Diaspora.
It approved of the large land purchases, 62,000 dunams 1
in extent, that had recently been made by the Jewish
National Fund in the Valley of Jezreel, at a cost of
282,000, and decided that the head office of the Fund
should be transferred from The Hague to Jerusalem. It
resolved upon an intensification of agricultural activity
under the authority of a Colonisation Department, to be
directed by a member of the Executive. It endorsed and
elaborated the decisions of the London Conference
regarding the organising of immigration into Palestine,
and undertook to subsidise the occupational training of
Halutzim, towards which the local Zionist bodies were
also required to contribute. It assumed the obligation of
maintaining all schools in Palestine that accepted the
authority of the Zionist Organisation, declared that
Jewish religious laws must be observed in all institutions
subventioned by the Organisation, and authorised the
increase of the capital of the Anglo-Palestine Bank to
1,000,000. It also called upon all Jewish scholars,
teachers, and writers in the Diaspora to dedicate their

1 1 dunam= J acre.

go A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

energies to the advancement of Hebrew literature and
the furtherance of Hebrew as a spoken language, and
decided that an official organ be published in Hebrew.,

AN AMBITIOUS BUDGET

To cover the cost of all these and other activities
in the ensuing year, the Congress adopted a budget of
1 ,500,000, of which two-fifths was primarily for agri-
cultural colonisation, immigration, education, and other
social services; one-third was for house building and
economic undertakings; and the rest was to go to the
Jewish National Fund. It was an ambitious budget,
based upon an optimistic estimate of the Keren Hayesod,
which, however, failed to be realised. The target of
25,000,000 to be reached in a year, or even in five
years, was abandoned as impracticable (although years
later Hitler, by his own methods, showed that it was not
unattainable). The fixing of contributions to the Keren
Hayesod on the basis of the traditional tithe was retained
as an ideal, but the "self-taxation" of most contributors
fell far short of this. An agreement had been concluded
in 1920 between the Keren Hayesod and the Jewish
National Fund as to their respective methods of collec-
tion; but the arrangement whereby the Keren Hayesod
was to give 20 per cent, of its receipts to the J.N.F. soon
lapsed, as those receipts did not attain the expected level
and the J.N.F/s own income increased. The total
amount raised by the Keren Hayesod in the first 18
months of its existence, from April, 1921, to September,
1922, was a little over 600,000. Consequently the
budgetary arrangements had to be seriously scaled
down.

CONSTITUTION AND EXECUTIVE

Three other important matters were dealt with by the
Congress the political situation, the constitution of the
Zionist Organisation, and the election of a new Execu-
tive. The Congress voiced a solemn protest against the

EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT, 1917-1925 gi

Arab riots that had taken place in the preceding May,
expressed the resolve to live with the Arabs in Palestine
on terms of concord and mutual respect, and requested
the Executive to secure an honourable entente with them
in strict accordance with the Balfour Declaration. In
consequence of the numerical growth of the Organisa-
tion, several changes were made, such as raising the
number of Shekel-payers necessary for the election of a
delegate to Congress from 200 to 2,500, and increasing
the number of members necessary for the recognition of
a Separate Union (that is, a body of Zionists subscribing
to a particular social, religious, or political principle
within the movement, such as the Mizrachi and the
Poale Zion) from 3,000 to 20,000. The concluding act
of the Congress was the election of an Executive of 13,
headed by Dr. Weizmann as President of the Organisa-
tion, and Nahum Sokolow as President of the Executive.
It was a "coalition" Executive, as it included repre-
sentatives of all parties. Six of the members (including
Ussishkin) were to constitute the Executive in Jerusalem
(thus replacing the Zionist Commission) and to take
charge of affairs in Palestine.

ZIONIST OFFICES AND PRESS

The Organisation was now equipped with all the
principal organs, institutions, and offices essential for the
new era of widely ramified activity. The Central Office
in London had two main functions to look after
political affairs by keeping in contact with the Colonial
Office and to watch over Zionist activities in all parts of
the world and it was also in constant communication
with the office in Jerusalem for the purpose of mutual
information and co-ordinated action. In order to safe-
guard Zionist interests in connection with the work of the
Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, to
which the British Government was answerable as the
Mandatory for Palestine, a political bureau was opened
in Geneva in 1925. The official organ in English, from

Q2 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

July, 1919, was a weekly journal. The Zionist Bulletin^
which was discontinued towards the end of 1920; but
from September, 1924, the Executive began to issue The
New Judea. The Hebrew organ of the Executive, Haolam,
which first appeared in Cologne in 1907, was revived in
London in 1919. In addition to these official journals
there were, during the period between the two World
Wars, at least one hundred Zionist or pro-Zionist
newspapers published in different parts of the world,
from New York to Cairo, from Buenos Aires to Bombay,
and from Paris to Johannesburg.

FEDERATIONS AND PARTIES

The Organisation now comprised some thousands of
societies throughout the world, which were either united
in Federations in countries with a large Jewish popula-
tion or existed as active units in isolated outposts like
Shanghai or Singapore. Relations between the Central
Office and this multitude of affiliated constituents were
maintained by an ever-growing correspondence in
various languages, and also by periodical visits of mem-
bers of the Executive and officials, who travelled to the
most distant parts of the globe, enlightening all Jewish
communities on the aims and ideals of the movement
and collecting funds for their realisation.

There were developments not only among the Zionists
in general, or the General Zionists, but also among those
devoted to some distinguishing principle in the move-
ment, such as the orthodox Mizrachi or the adherents of
different shades of Socialism, Before 1914 the two main
Socialist parties in Palestine were the Poale Zion and
Hapoel Hatzair ("The Young Worker"). But in
Eastern Europe there arose another Socialist party,
Zeire Zion ("Youths of Zion 35 ), who based themselves
rather upon the lower middle class than the proletariat,
and were particularly active in advocating the principle
of Halutziut training for pioneering work in Palestine.
These three Socialist parties combined with one another

EXPANSION OF THE MOVEMENT, 1917-1925 93

at different stages, and by 1932 they were all united in
one single body, commonly known as the Poale Zion.
But in 1934 there was formed another Socialist group,
Hashomer Hatzair ("The Young Watchman"), which
differed from the Poale Zion in more strongly emphasising
Marxism and favouring a bi-national State in Palestine.

THE wxz.o.

Zionism, as a democratic movement, knows no sex
distinction, and women can be elected to all positions.
Nevertheless, in 1920 there was established the Women's
International Zionist Organisation (commonly called
the WJ.Z.CX) for the purpose of making a specific
contribution to the National Home the maintenance
of infant welfare centres, girls' training farms, and
domestic economy schools. Although not under the
authority of the Zionist Executive, the W.I.Z.O. co-
operated harmoniously and most usefully in the work in
Palestine. Before the Second World War it had a mem-
bership of over 80,000 in 44 countries. 1 In the United
States the women Zionists have their own organisation,
the Hadassah, which is affiliated to the World Zionist
Organisation.

THE YOUTH MOVEMENT

There is also an extensive Zionist youth movement on
both sides of the Atlantic, embracing different schools of
thought, and including many societies of university
students. Before the war the leading position was main-
tained by "Hehalutz" ("The Pioneer 55 ), an organisation
(with headquarters in Warsaw) whose members, num-
bering over 100,000 and distributed over many countries,
devoted themselves to technical and cultural preparation
for settlement in Palestine. Unfortunately "Hehalutz"
was among the countless Jewish casualties of the Second
World War. Its members, like those of all other Jewish

1 By the end of 1950 the membership of the W.I.Z.O. had increased to 140,000
in 54 countries, and the membership of Hadassah had increased to 300,000.

94 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

youth organisations on the Continent, played heroic
parts in the Resistance movements in various lands
against the barbarous Nazi invaders. Most of them were
denied the wish to dedicate their energies to the rebuild-
ing of their ancestral home, for they sacrificed their lives
in the bitter struggle. But both those who perished and
those who survived, they all alike bravely upheld the
honour of their people and shed undying glory upon the
Jewish name.

CHAPTER VII

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE
i 920-1928

THE FIRST HIGH COMMISSIONER

THE selection of a Jew as the first High Commissioner
in Palestine inspired the hope that the hostility to
Jewish national aspirations that had marked the Military
Administration would cease. It also strengthened the
belief that the British Government was resolved to carry
out its historic promise in both the letter and the spirit.
Subsequent events will show to what extent that hope
was realised and that belief was justified. Soon after Ms
arrival Sir Herbert Samuel addressed an assembly of
officials and leading representatives of all sections of the
population, announced that the Allied and Associated
Powers had decided that measures should be adopted
"to secure the gradual establishment in Palestine of a
National Home for the Jewish people/' and gave an
assurance that the civil and religious rights and the
prosperity of the general population would not in any
way be affected. The gratification felt by the Jews at the
official promulgation of their national charter was
temporarily enhanced when the High Commissioner
attended the synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem on
the Sabbath after the Fast of Ab, and read the heartening
message from Isaiah: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my
people." But the early enthusiasm had soon to give way
to a sober and watchful attitude.

CHARACTER OF CIVIL ADMINISTRATION

In organising the Civil Administration, the High
Commissioner chose as his Chief Secretary, Sir Wynd-
ham Deedes, who was known to be in perfect sympathy
with Zionism, but Sir Wyndham remained in Palestine
only three years. Unfortunately, a good proportion of the
officials of the Military Administration were retained,

g6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

many of whom had little or no understanding of, or
sympathy with, the policy that they were required to
serve. Some of them made no secret of their views, and
their attitude inevitably had a prejudicial effect upon the
Arabs. The few Jews appointed to senior positions were
unable to neutralise that influence, and their number
dwindled as time went on. Apart from the Administra-
tion there was created an Advisory Council, over which
the High Commissioner presided. This Council was
composed of 12 official and 10 non-official members, the
latter consisting of four Moslems, three Christians, and
three Jews. It afforded the opportunity of consultations
between the Government officials and representatives of
the three religious communities, who were able to criticise
the drafts of Ordinances that the Government proposed
enacting, and also to raise questions that they wished to
have considered.

At an early stage in the deliberations of the Advisory
Council two fundamental decisions were taken, bearing
upon the status of the Jews as a nation. All Government
ordinances and official notices were to be published in
Hebrew as well as in English and Arabic; in areas con-
taining a considerable Jewish population the three
languages were to be used in the local offices and
municipalities as well as in Government departments;
and written and oral pleadings in the courts might be
conducted in any of the three languages. The other
decision concerned the Hebrew name of the country.
The Jewish members of the Council objected to the
Hebrew transliteration of the word "Palestine/ 3 on the
ground that the traditional name was "Eretz Yisrael,"
but the Arab members would not agree to this designa-
tion, which, in their view, had political significance.
The High Commissioner therefore decided, as a com-
promise, that the Hebrew transliteration should be used,
foEowed always by the two initial letters of "Eretz
Yisrael, 53 Alepk Yod, and this combination was always
used on the coinage and stamps of Palestine and in all
references m official documents.

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE, 1920-1928 97

JEWISH COMMUNAL ORGANISATION

In both the Jewish and Moslem communities import-
ant steps were taken in regard to their internal organisa-
tion. The Jews had elected a provisional representative
committee (Ha-Vaad Hazynani) soon after the liberation
of Jerusalem, but it was not until a few months after the
establishment of the Civil Administration that they were
able to convene a Constituent Assembly, called Asefath
Hanivharim, which elected a Vaad Leumi (National
Council) as the official representation of Palestinian
Jewry. A change was also made in the spiritual leader-
ship. Hitherto there had been only one Chief Rabbi,
chosen by the Sephardic section of the community; but
now, owing to the growing importance of the Ash-
kenazim, it was agreed that they too should have a
Chief Rabbi. The two Chief Rabbis were assisted by six
associate Rabbis, and they formed together a Rabbinical
Council.

THE MUFTI OF JERUSALEM

The appointment of a head of the Moslem community
proved to be of concern also to the Jews, for the person
elected became the ambitious leader of Palestinian Arab
nationalism and the most aggressive enemy of Zionism.
Early in 1921 the office of Mufti of Jerusalem fell vacant,
and as the position of Mayor of Jerusalem was held by a
member of the Nashashibi family, the Government
thought it desirable that the vacancy should be filled by
a representative of the rival family of Husseini. The
candidate was Haj Amin el Husseini, a half-brother of
the late Mufti, who had studied without distinction in
Cairo, and fought as an artillery officer in the Turkish
Army. After the British occupation of Palestine he in-
dulged in anti-Zionist agitation, delivered an incendiary
speech at the time of the Jerusalem riots in 1920, fled to
Transjordan, and was sentenced to 10 years' imprison-
ment in absentia; but on receiving an amnesty from the
High Commissioner he returned to Jerusalem. This was

gg A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

the individual whom the Government caused to be
elected Mufti of Jerusalem. 1 In the following year he was
elected President of the Supreme Moslem Council, and
thus acquired control over large charitable endowments
and the Moslem religious courts, as well as the authority
to appoint preachers in all the mosques in Palestine. He
steadily consolidated his influence and wielded it for
many years to sabotage the policy of the Mandate.

THE DETACHMENT OF TRANSJORDAN

The Jews did not then realise what a fanatical enemy
of theirs had been placed in a position of power. They
suffered the gravest disappointment from another event
the detachment of the territory east of the Jordan from
the land in which their National Home was to be estab-
lished. Early in 1921, Abdullah, a son of Hussein, King
of the Hedjaz, moved into Transjordan with a band of
guerrilla Arabs, declaring that he intended to recover
Syria, from which his brother Feisal had been ejected
by the French in the previous year. The British Govern-
ment therefore decided to placate Abdullah at the
expense of the Jewish National Home. Palestine had been
transferred from the care of the Foreign Office to that of
the Colonial Office, and Mr. Winston Churchill, as
Colonial Secretary, accompanied by T. E. Lawrence
(the famous "Lawrence of Arabia 3 '), went to Cairo to
deal with Transjordan and other affairs of the Near
East. Sir Herbert Samuel also attended this conference
in March, after which all three went to Jerusalem.
Abdullah was then invited to meet Mr. Churchill, who
told him that he would be recognised as Emir of Trans-
Jordan on condition that he did not march against Syria,
and that he would be provided with a British adviser and
an annual subsidy from Britain. Abdullah promptly
accepted, with the result that the articles of the Mandate
relating to the Jewish National Home were declared to

1 For the mode of the Mufti's election and his activities, see Report of Palestine
Royal Gmnnssim, pp. 177-^81, and Maurice Pearlman's Mtjfti of Jerusalem.

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE, 1920-1928 99

be inapplicable to Transjordan. It was officially ex-
plained that this separation of Transjordan was in
accordance with the terms of the McMahon pledge, but
it is curious that this discovery was not made and
revealed until it became necessary to appease an Arab
chieftain. Thus was the land of the Jewish National
Home reduced to one-third of Biblical Palestine. 1

ARAB DEMANDS AND DISORDERS

While he was in Jerusalem, Mr. Churchill received an
Arab deputation, who demanded the abolition of the
principle of the Jewish National Home, the stoppage
of Jewish immigration, and the creation of a National
Government. Mr. Churchill rejected these demands. He
declared that it was right that the Jews should have a
National Home, reminded the Arabs that they owed
their liberation to British arms, and said that if the Jews
succeeded their success would be of benefit to all people
in the country. He also received a Jewish deputation,
who stressed their desire to promote cordial relations
with the Arab nation. But this desire was not recipro-
cated. At the beginning of May, 1921, there were violent
attacks by Arabs upon Jews in Jaffa and the neighbour-
ing Jewish colonies, in which 48 Arabs and 47 Jews were
killed, most of the Arab casualties being due to action
by the British troops. The immediate result of this
second outbreak of savagery was a temporary suspension
of Jewish hopes. The Commission of Inquiry, under the
chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Palestine, Sir
Thomas Haycraft, which investigated the disorders,
attributed them to a feeling among the Arabs of dis-
content and hostility to the Jews, "due to political and
economic causes, and connected with Jewish immigra-
tion, and with their conception of Zionist policy." The

1 In bis evidence before the Anglo- American Committe of Inquiry on European
Jewry and Palestine, on January 3Oth, 1946, in London, Mr. L. S, Amery, who
was Secretary to the Imperial War Cabinet in 1917, stated that at the time when
the Cabinet decided to issue the Balfour Declaration they regarded Transjordan
as being within Palestine. On March 22nd, 1946, the British Government signed a
Treaty with Emir Abdullah recognising the independence of Transjordan.

I GO A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Arab ringleaders were fined, many of the culprits were
sent to jail, and improvements were made in the main-
tenance of law and order.

In order to reassure the Arabs the High Commissioner
addressed a meeting of leading citizens on June 3rd,
1921, to explain that the policy of the Jewish National
Home did not mean that Britain proposed to set up a
Jewish government over an Arab majority. But the
Arabs were not satisfied. They sent a delegation to
London the first of several during the next 18 years
for the purpose of conversations with the Colonial
Office, and certain London newspapers encouraged their
agitation. The Government rejected the Arab demands
and offered to replace the Advisory Council by a Legisla-
tive Council. The Arabs refused this proposal and also
rejected the basis of the Mandate as far as it involved
recognition of the Jewish National Home. Their agita-
tion succeeded to such a degree that the question of
abandoning the Mandate was discussed in both Houses
of Parliament in the summer of 1922. The first debate was
in the House of Lords, where, despite the eloquent
advocacy of Lord Balfour, a motion was adopted to
postpone acceptance of the Mandate: but fortunately
this decision was of no practical effect.

THE WHITE PAPER OF I$22

The Government thereupon published a document
containing its correspondence with the Arab delegation
and the Zionist Organisation, and a statement setting
forth its policy. This document, which was issued under
the authority of Mr. Churchill as Colonial Secretary,
came to be known as the Churchill White Paper. It
rejected the Arab demands for the abandonment of
Britain's declared policy; but, on the other hand, it
showed that the agitation of the Arabs and their friends
had not been without effect. Its definition of British
policy in Palestine was very far removed from the early
glosses on the Balfour Declaration* It stressed the fact

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATED I 20-1928 IOI

that this Declaration did not "contemplate that Pales-
tine, as a whole, should be converted Into a Jewish
National Home, but that such a Home should be
founded in Palestine. 55 It said:

"When it is asked what is meant by the development of the
Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is
not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of
Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing
Jewish community with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the
world, in order that it may become a centre in which the Jewish
people, as a whole, may take, on grounds of religion and race, an
interest and a pride. But in order that this community should have
the best prospect of free development and provide a full opportunity
for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it
should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance.
That is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of a Jewish
National Home in Palestine should be internationally guaranteed,
and that it should be formally recognised to rest upon ancient
historic connection. 3>

For the fulfilment of this policy, the White Paper
prescribed that Jewish immigration must continue, but
"cannot be so great in volume as to exceed whatever may
be the economic capacity of the country at the time to
absorb new arrivals, 35 It also contained a formal assur-
ance from the Zionist Organisation, which it was re-
quested by the Government to give, that "it accepted the
policy as set forth in the statement, and was prepared to
conduct its own activities in conformity therewith* 5 * The
Zionist Executive gave this assurance with great reluct-
ance and under a feeling of duress, as they considered
this interpretation of the Balfour Declaration to be an
abridgment of the aspirations which they had believed
the Jewish people would be allowed to achieve. Their
views were strongly endorsed by Jews throughout the
world, who assailed the White Paper with a barrage of
indignant criticism. The Government, however, were
glad to have the Organisation's reply, and in the
debate in the House of Commons they defeated the
opponents of their Palestinian policy by an overwhelm-
ing majority.

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

RATIFICATION OF THE MANDATE

The White Paper and the parliamentary debates
formed a prelude to the passing of the Mandate instru-
ment by the Council of the League of Nations, which
took place at a meeting in London on July 24th, 1922.
The text of the Mandate was the result of three years 5
discussion between the Government and the Zionist
Organisation, during which various drafts were made,
amended, and revised. In its final form, the Mandate,
in a preamble, embodied the terms of the Balfour
Declaration and stated that "recognition has thereby
been given to the historical connection of the Jewish
people with Palestine and to the grounds for recon-
stituting their National Home in that country."

The body of the Mandate consisted of 2 8 articles, of which
the most important bearing upon the establishment of the
Jewish National Home may be summarised as follows:

Palestine is to be placed under such political,
administrative, and economic conditions as will
secure the establishment of the Jewish National Home
and the development of self-governing institutions.
The Zionist Organisation is to be recognised as a
Jewish Agency for the purpose of advising and co-
operating with the Administration in matters affecting
the Jewish National Home, and is to take steps to
secure the co-operation of all Jews who are willing to
assist in its establishment. Jewish immigration, under
suitable conditions, is to be facilitated, and close
settlement by Jews on the land, "including State lands
and waste lands not required for public purposes," is
to be encouraged. A nationality law shall be enacted,
including provisions to facilitate the acquisition of
Palestinian citizenship by Jews who settle in the
country permanently. English, Arabic, and Hebrew
shall be the official languages of Palestine, and the
holy days of the respective communities shall be
recognised as legal days of rest for the members of
such communities.

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE, 1920-1928 103

Of all the passages in the text of the Mandate that had
formed the subject of frequent discussion, the one in
which the final change proved of most fateful significance
was that in the middle part of Article 2. This article was
originally composed as an amplification of the Balfbur
Declaration, and the phrasing of the middle part, as
provisionally agreed upon between the Zionist Organisa-
tion and the Political Section of the British Peace
Delegation at the beginning of 1919, was "secure the
establishment of the Jewish National Home and the
development of a self-governing Commonwealth. 5 ' It
was obviously intended to mean that the Jewish National
Home was to develop into a self-governing common-
wealth, even though the term "commonwealth" was
not qualified by the word "Jewish." 5 But over three years
elapsed before the final text of the Mandate was fixed,
and by then the promise held out concerning the ulti-
mate status of the Jewish National Home was whittled
down to "the development of self-governing institutions. 33
This phrase was subsequently advanced in support of
the Arab demand for an independent Palestine, to which
the British Government gave way in the White Paper of

1939-

On September i6th, 1922, the Council of the League,
at the request of the British Government, passed a
resolution stating that the provisions of the Mandate
relating to the establishment of the Jewish National
Home were not applicable to the territory known as
Transjordan.

ARAB POLICY OF NON-GO-OPERATION

After the ratification of the Mandate, the Palestine
Administration made repeated attempts to secure the
co-operati6n of the Arabs. In place of the old Advisory
Council it proposed to set up a Legislative Council of 22
members, the 12 non-official members to consist of eight
Moslems, two Jews and two Christians. The Jews agreed
to the scheme, but the great majority of the Arabs were

104 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

opposed, so it had to be dropped. The Government
then proposed to create a new Advisory Council with
Moslem, Jewish, and Christian representatives; but owing
to Arab opposition this scheme was also abandoned.
Finally, the Government offered to establish an Arab
Agency which should occupy a position analogous to that
accorded to the Jewish Agency; but this proposal, too,
was rejected by the Arabs. Consequently, the legislative,
as well as the executive functions, had to be exercised
entirely by the High Commissioner and officers of the
Administration; but public criticism of the measures
proposed could be made by representations after the
publication of the Bills in the Government Gazette.

THE MANDATES COMMISSION OF THE LEAGUE

The administration of Palestine as a mandated terri-
tory was made subject to the scrutiny and approval of
the Council of the League of Nations. The British
Government was required to make an annual report to
the Council as to the measures taken to carry out the
provisions of the Mandate. The report was examined by
the Permanent Mandates Commission, which first dealt
with Palestine in 1924. From that year the British
Government rendered an annual report on the steps that
it took to carry out its obligations, and its representatives
attended the meetings of the Mandates Commission in
Geneva to give any verbal explanations necessary, and
were often subjected to severe cross-examination. The
Zionist Organisation (from 1930, the Jewish Agency)
furnished the Mandates Commission with an annual
report upon the development of the Jewish National
Home, and the report was usually accompanied by a
covering letter from the President, containing observations
on any matters to which he found it necessary to direct
attention.

BRITISH-AMERICAN CONVENTION

The close interest taken by both the people and the
Government of the United States in the fortunes of the

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE, 1920-1928 105

Holy Land found public and official expression. In
September, 1922, the American Congress passed a joint
resolution of the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives in favour of the establishment of the Jewish National
Home* Although not a party to the grant of the Mandate,
the United States gave formal assent to the administra-
tion of Palestine by Great Britain in a Convention with
the British Government, which was ratified in 1925.
This instrument provided for the application to Ameri-
can subjects of the rights accorded to other foreigners
in the mandated territory, and also permitted them
freely to establish and maintain their educational,
philanthropic, and religious institutions.

INAUGURATION OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY

The most notable event in Sir Herbert Samuel's last
year of office was the inauguration of the Hebrew
University by Lord Balfour on April ist, 1925. The
impressive open-air ceremony was witnessed by an
assembly of 7,000 people, and was attended by a large
number of distinguished scholars and scientists represent-
ing many leading universities in different parts of the
globe. After the conclusion of the ceremony, which sent
a thrill throughout the Jewish world, Lord Balfour
visited the principal cities and made a journey through
the Jewish agricultural settlements of the coastal plain,
the Valley of Esdraelon, and the district of Galilee. He
delivered several striking addresses and was everywhere
acclaimed with joyous enthusiasm by the settlers,
especially at Balfouria, the village founded in his name
by an American Jewish corporation.

PROGRESS UNDER THE SAMUEL REGIME

When Sir Herbert Samuel terminated his period of
office at the end of June, 1925, he issued a report on his
five years' administration, in which he gave a survey of
the progress that had taken place. This progress was

IO6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

largely in the economic field, though many improve-
ments in other directions had also taken place. The
Jewish population had doubled from 55,000 at the end
of 1918 to 103,000, mainly by immigration, and the
area of agricultural land owned by Jews had likewise
been doubled. Urban developments had also been
striking, for the Jews in Tel Aviv had increased from
2,000 to 30,000, and those in Haifa from 2,000 to 8,000.
Of great benefit to the country in general had been the
supply of electric power by Pinhas Rutenberg, a Russo-
Jewish electrical engineer, who had been granted two
concessions, one for utilising the waters of the River Auja
near Jaffa, and the other for harnessing the waters of the
upper Jordan and its tributary, the Yarmuk. The first
power station had been constructed at Tel Aviv and the
first hydro-electric power station was soon to be erected.
These undertakings brought about a veritable trans-
formation in the ancient land, not only by facilitating
the expansion of industry, but also by supplying the
amenities necessary for social comfort and general
progress.

The Zionist Executive, in paying a tribute to the first
High Commissioner, referred to "occasional differences
of opinion between them on various practical questions
relative to the establishment of the Jewish National
Home." Perhaps the most serious was in connection with
the article of the Mandate that required the Administra-
tion to "encourage . . . close settlement by Jews on the
land, including State lands and waste lands not required
for public purposes. 53 There was a large area (over
100,000 acres) of such State lands between the southern
end of the Sea of Galilee and Beisan, a considerable part
of which might have been made available for Jewish
settlement. But it was allotted in such generous measure
to a number of Arabs who were squatters on a part of
it, that there was no land left. This caused profound
disappointment to the Jews, who were by no means
silent about their justified grievance. Their only con-
solation was that they were able to buy some of this

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATED 1920-1928 IOJ

land, though at enhanced prices, as the Arabs had been
given more than they needed and were unable to pay
the requisite fees. But despite the differences due to
this and other matters, the Zionist Executive placed on
record their deep appreciation of the courtesy and
sympathetic consideration that Sir Herbert Samuel had
always shown them, and of "Ms unflagging devotion to
the welfare of Palestine and its people."

LORD PLUMER'S ADMINISTRATION

The appointment of Field-Marshal Lord Plumer as
the next High Commissioner caused a certain disillusion-
ment among the Jews, as many of them had believed
that the position would again be given to one of their
own people. It produced a temporary elation among the
Arabs, who thought that it signified a change of policy
in their interest. But both soon revised their views: the
Arabs, when they found that there was to beno change, and
the Jews, when they began to experience the sympathy,
concern, and sense of justice that Lord Plumer invariably
applied to all his tasks. He certainly inspired the Arabs
with a healthy respect for his authority. His term of
office was marked by a number of legislative measures
and administrative changes. The Citizenship Order-in-
Gouncil enacted that any person could acquire citizen-
ship who had lived in the country for two years, had a
knowledge of one of the official languages, and intended
to remain there permanently, but Jews were not com-
pelled to avail themselves of this law. As a logical
development, a law for municipal elections was made in

1926, which prescribed that only Palestinian citizens
could vote or be elected, subject to their paying a certain
amount of Government land-tax or municipal rates. The
first elections for municipal councils were held early in

1927, and from that time the Government exercised
financial supervision to prevent municipal bodies falling
into debt.

Impressed by the tranquillity of the country, which

IO8 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

was mainly due to his own presence. Lord Plumer
reorganised the forces of security on a simpler and
smaller scale. He was also prompted by the wish to
relieve the British taxpayer of the greater part of the
small contribution that Britain still made to the cost of
defence in Palestine. The Palestinian Police was recon-
structed as the sole Civil Force, the Gendarmerie was
disbanded, and a regular military force, called the
Transjordan Frontier Force, was created for service
along the eastern frontiers. This reduction of the forces,
although welcomed as a good sign, was a serious mistake,
as was proved by the troubles in 1929.

FURTHERANCE OF ECONOMIC WELFARE

The interests of the agricultural population were
furthered, both by the steady development of agricultural
productivity and by enacting a law for the protection of
agricultural tenants. Previously such tenants had been
liable to be turned out at any time, but the new ordin-
ance required that they should be given a full year's
notice before they could be removed from the land; and
if they were removed they might secure compensation
for improvements, and, in the case of long terms,
additional compensation for eviction. Both Jews and
Arabs benefited by a bequest of 100,000 from Sir Ellis
Kadoorie, a Jewish philanthropist of Hong Kong, as
the money was devoted in equal parts to the establishment
of an agricultural school for each of them. Lord Plumer
showed concern for the social and economic welfare of
the population in many ways by issuing ordinances for
giving workmen compensation for accidents, and for the
protection of women and children in industry, by order-
ing public works for the relief of unemployment, and by
providing aid for the sufferers from the earthquakes in
1927. The country quickly recovered from the disasters,
and it was a sign of economic progress that the first
Palestine Loan, amounting to 5^4,500,000, was; floated
iik the foBowiii,g

PALESTINE UNDER MANDATE> IQSO-igs I0g

Throughout Lord Plumer's adimnistration, which
lasted three years, the Arabs showed commendable
restraint and indulged in little concerted political action.
But in the summer of 1928, after holding a Palestinian
Arab Congress, the Arab Executive handed the retiring
High Commissioner a memorandum embodying the
unanimous resolution of the Congress, demanding the
establishment of parliamentary government in Palestine,
He took only formal note of this demand, which was
repeated at intervals and with increasing insistence
during the following decade.

CHAPTER VIII

BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME
1919-1929

ESTABLISHING THE JEWISH NATIONAL HOME

Now that we have traced the principal political
events in connection with Palestine during the first
eight years of its civil administration, we can proceed to
describe the efforts made for the establishment of the
Jewish National Home. The Mandate required that the
Mandatory should place Palestine under such conditions
as would secure that objective, but the actual work
necessary to achieve it had to be provided by the Jewish
people* To this task the Zionist Organisation devoted
itself with all its energies and resources, on a constantly
increasing scale, and with the material aid furnished by
supporters in all parts of the world. The work was
carried out primarily under the guidance and direction
of the Palestine Zionist Executive (merged from 1929
into the Executive of the Jewish Agency) by means of
an elaborate administrative apparatus. This consisted of
separate departments for political affairs, immigration,
labour, agricultural colonisation, trade and industry,
and other matters. There were also departments for
education and public health until 1932, when these
services were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Vaad
Leumi. Members of the Executive, in accordance with
Article 4 of the Mandate, had consultations from time
to time with the High Commissioner and other high
officials of the Palestine Administration on current
questions of importance; and there was always a regular
interchange of correspondence between the Executive in
Jerusalem and their colleagues in London, in addition
to the exchange of visits from one city to the other, in
order to secure co-ordination of policy and harmonious
co-operation in all activities.

BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME, 1919-1929 III

The two basic factors in the creation of the Jewish
National Home were immigration and land. Article 6 of
the Mandate required that the Administration shall
"facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable condi-
tions' 3 and also "encourage . . . close settlement by Jews
on the land, including State lands and waste lands not
required for public purposes." The Administration
interpreted the former obligation by enacting various
ordinances from time to time for the strict regulation of
immigration in accordance with what it deemed to be
the economic requirements of the country. As for the
land factor, the total cultivable area of State domain
that it gave to the Jews, during a period of twenty-five
years, was only 17,450 dunams 1 (or 4,350 acres), and
this land could not be used for close settlement, as it
consisted of small and scattered tracts. In glaring contrast
to this was the area of 100,000 acres given to the Arabs.
All land had, therefore, to be bought by the Jewish
National Fund.

STRICT REGULATION OF IMMIGRATION

The regulation of immigration by the Palestine
Government underwent various changes from time to
time, but was always marked by bureaucratic severity.
The first Immigration Ordanance, issued in September,
1920, authorised the Zionist Organisation to introduce
16,500 immigrants per annum, on condition that it was
responsible for their maintenance for one year. About
10,000 Jews were admitted in the first twelve months,
but as the ordinance was found unsatisfactory, new
regulations were issued the following year for the ad-
mission of a number of categories, the principal ones
being persons of independent means, professional men,
persons with definite prospects of employment, persons
of religious occupation, and small tradesmen and
artisans. After the publication of the Churchill White
Paper, which laid down the rule that immigration must

1 4. diuiams = i acre.

112 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

not exceed the economic capacity of the country to
absorb new arrivals, the Government granted permits
to groups of artisans and labourers selected by the various
Palestine Offices. At first the number of such permits or
certificates was fixed every three months, but from 1925
it was fixed every six months. From 1927 until the out-
break of war the admission was mainly according to the
following categories:

A. (i) Persons with not less than 1,000 and their

families,

(ii) Professional men with not less than 500.
(iii) Skilled artisans with not less than 250.
(iv) Persons with an assured income of 4 per

month.

B. (i) Orphans destined for institutions in Palestine,
(ii) Persons of religious occupation whose main-
tenance was assured.

(iii) Students whose maintenance was assured.

C. Persons who had a definite prospect of employ-

ment.

D. Dependent relatives of residents in Palestine who

were in a position to maintain them.

The regulations regarding professional men and skilled
artisans were always applied with particular rigour and
occasionally suspended for varying periods. But the most
frequent and serious differences between the Govern-
ment and the Zionist Executive were in regard to the
workers with a definite prospect of employment, foi
whom a schedule was prepared every six months. No
matter how detailed the estimates drawn up by the
Executive, no matter how carefully compiled and
factually justified, according to branches of labour and
different localities, they were generally and drastically
reduced by the Government. Its niggardly policy ofter
produced a shortage of Jewish labour, which seriousl)
hampered economic development and caused a drif
of workers from rural settlements to the towns in searcl:
of better-paid employment.

BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME, 1919-1929 113
THE HALUTZIM

The immigrants were drawn from all parts of the
world. They came mainly from Eastern and Central
Europe, but also from lands as varied and as remote
from one another as Siberia and South Africa, Argentina
and Persia, England and the United States. In the so-
called third Aliy ah (wave of immigration) of 1920-2,
the younger element predominated. Soon after the First
World War societies of Halutzim (pioneers) sprang up in
Eastern and Central Europe for the purpose of giving
their members, young men and women, a training in
agriculture or in some manual craft and a knowledge of
Hebrew. Many were university students, who broke off
their academic career in order to engage in the laborious
toil of rebuilding their ancestral land; and all were
medically examined before receiving immigration per-
mits from the local Palestine Office. Upon their arrival
in Palestine, the newcomers were welcomed by officials
of the Zionist Immigration Department, looked after in
hostels, and then directed to an agricultural settlement
or found employment in their respective trades.

IMMIGRATION FLUCTUATIONS AND LABOUR DEPRESSION

The number of Jewish immigrants rose steadily from
7,000 in 1920 to nearly 13,000 in 1924, when the Fourth
Aliyah began, containing a large proportion of persons
from Poland, some with capital. This influx gave a strong
impetus to the economic development of Palestine,
caused land values to rise, and resulted in extensive
building activity, particularly in Tel Aviv. But after
reaching the record total of nearly 34,000 in 1925, not
only did the number of immigrants sink to 13,000 in
1926, but more than half of that number left the country.
In 1927 there was a further and more serious decline of
immigration to 2,700, while the volume of emigration
was nearly twice that number; but in 1928 there was
some improvement, as, although there were only a little

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

over 2,000 new arrivals-, the number of departures was
about the same. The decline of immigration in the years
1926 to 1928 was due to a labour depression brought
about by a variety of causes, the chief of which were delays
in the arrival of new settlers and the economic crisis in
Poland. Unfortunately the certificates under the labour
schedule were not issued in time to enable the recipients
to reach Palestine for the beginning of the working
season, and so many of them fell a burden upon the
labour market. On the other hand, those who had come
from Poland with some money and engaged in the
building industry were hit by the economic crisis in
Poland and found themselves short of the additional
capital necessary for the completion of their under-
takings. The result was extensive unemployment, which
caused the Zionist Executive the very gravest concern.
It was first relieved by the payment of "doles' * by the
Executive, and afterwards by the promotion of public
works by the Government, various municipalities, and
the Executive itself. Not until the spring of 1928 did the
economic position improve and the "dole" system
disappear.

THE GENERAL FEDERATION OF JEWISH LABOUR

The interests of the Jewish workers were looked after
mainly by the Labour Department of the Zionist (or
Jewish Agency) Executive and the Histadruth Ha-Ovedim
(General Federation of Jewish Labour), usually called
the Histadruth.' 1 The Labour Department found employ-
ment for the workers in their respective trades, organised
industrial training, provided loans for house-building,
watched over labour legislation, subsidised labour
exchanges, and took the initiative in settling strikes. The
Hi$tadruth, founded in 1920, comprises not only a
number of trade unions, the most important being those
of the agricultural and building workers, but also a very
large number of co-operative settlements, several co-
operative societies, a workers' sick benefit fund (Kupath

1 At the end of 1950 the total membership of the Histadruth was 31 1,000.

BUILDING THE NATIONAE HOME, 1919-1929 115

Holirri), a youth organisation, a travelling theatre (Ha-
OM), and a sports association (Ha-Poel). Its principal
co-operatives are a central wholesale consumers 5 society,
a central marketing co-operative, a building co-opera-
tive, and a contracting society for agricultural work. It
also has a bank of its own, besides a chain of loan and
saving societies, a Labour Fund, an insurance society, an
immigration bureau, labour exchanges, and a special
committee to look after Labour schools. Moreover, it has
tried to foster co-operation between Jewish and Arab
workers by helping to create Arab unions as well as joint
unions in undertakings where Jews and Arabs worked
together.

AGRICULTURAL COLONISATION

The branch of labour to which Jewish workers have
primarily devoted themselves is agriculture, since culti-
vation of the soil was from the very beginning regarded
as a fundamental basis of the National Home. The two
leading agencies for the establishment of agricultural
settlements were the Zionist Organisation (or Jewish
Agency) and the P.I. C.A. (Palestine Jewish Colonisation
Association), a company formed in 1925 to administer
the estates of the I.C.A. 1 in Palestine, mainly those
previously founded by Baron Edmond de Rothschild.
The Zionist settlements are distributed over various parts
of the country, the most important district being the
Valley of Jezreel, commonly called the Emek (Valley),
which extends from the foot of Mount Carmel to the
hills of Lower Galilee. They went in largely for mixed
farming, which included not only the growing of crops
and vegetables, dairy farming, poultry beeeding, and
cattle rearing, but also fruit plantations. By far the
most extensive development took place in the cultiva-
tion of citrus fruit (oranges, lemons, and grape fruit),
which soon provided the country's most important
export.

* See page 43.

Il6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

MAIN TYPES OF SETTLEMENT

There were at first three main types of rural settlement
the Moshava or "colony/' the communal or collective
settlement,, and the smallholders 3 settlement. The dis-
tinguishing feature of the "colonies," which were largely
the foundations of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, is
that the land is the private property of the settlers. The
result of this system, based on the pursuit of profit, was
the growth of social disparities in the village community,
which were out of harmony with the idealism that had
originally inspired its founders. A radical change was
brought about by the Zionist Organisation and the
Jewish National Fund, for the Jews whom they settled
on the soil were primarily actuated by the desire that the
land should remain permanently in Jewish possession,
and they considered it essential to this end that it should
always be cultivated by Jewish labour. They formed
groups whose members all belonged to the Histadruth,
and each group was allotted by the J.N.F., on a 49 years'
lease and at a very moderate rental, only as much land
as it could cultivate itself. The settlement was based on
four cardinal principles: (i) Jewish national ownership
of the soil; (2) "self-labour/ 3 which meant the rigorous
exclusion of hired labour; (3) mutual assistance; and
(4) co-operative buying and selling. These settlements,
many of which were provided by the Keren Hayesod
with the money for their buildings, cattle, and general
farming equipment, consisted at first of two main types
the Kvutzah, or collective settlement, and the Moshav
Ovedim^ or workers' smallholders' settlement.

COLLECTIVE SETTLEMENTS

The Kvutzah is the collective property of the group and
is conducted on strictly co-operative principles. All its
members share alike in both the work and its proceeds,
but receive no wages. They eat in a communal hall,
obtain their clothing from the communal store, and

BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME, 1919-1929 117

receive a limited weekly allowance for such amenities as
cigarettes or a visit to the nearest cinema. Whatever
profits are made go into the common treasury for the
improvement of the settlement. Only those able to
discipline themselves, to deny themselves privacy and
personal convenience, can live amicably in such a form
of society. For those who cannot adjust themselves to this
rigid regime, the Moshav Ovedim was devised, combining
the advantages of the colony with those of the co-
operative settlement. Here the settlers have each a small-
holding, just large enough to be worked by one family;
they have each a cottage and farm and enjoy the privacy
of family life; and, as in the other settlements, they
practise the principles of c "self-labour, 3 * mutual assist-
ance, and the joint purchase of requirements and sale of
produce. 1

FUNCTIONS OF J.N.F. AND KEREN HAYESOD

The Jewish National Fund not only bought land for
agricultural development, but improved the soil where-
ever necessary by draining swamps, regulating streams
and water-courses, clearing the ground of stones and
weeds, and building roads. It planted hundreds of
thousands of trees in once-wooded areas that had been
denuded; and it bought urban and suburban land for
residential quarters, as well as large plots for public
institutions. The Keren Hayesod co-operated with the
J.N.F. in agricultural colonisation by providing the
money for everything besides land needed for the settle-
ments. But its sphere was very much larger, as it not only
furnished the finance for all the varied activities social
and economic, political and cultural of the Zionist
Executive, but also participated in important enter-
prises, such as Rutenberg's electrification scheme and the
extraction of the mineral deposits of the Dead Sea.

1 Later types of settlement are described in Chapter XII. 3 p. 172.

Il8 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

URBAN DEVELOPMENTS AND INDUSTRIES

There was also a considerable development in the
urban districts. The Jewish population rapidly increased
in the principal cities, giving a vigorous stimulus to the
building industry. The most striking expansion occurred
in Tel Aviv, where the population grew from 2,000 in
1914 to 40,000 in 1929. Before the British occupation
the only industries in Palestine consisted of the manu-
facture of wine, soap, and olive-wood articles; but the
Jews wrought a remarkable transformation by intro-
ducing numerous trades previously unknown in the
country. Factories, mills, and workshops multiplied
enormously. A census of Jewish industries taken in 1926
showed that there were 558 establishments employing
nearly 6,000 persons, comprising the following eight
main categories: building materials, textiles, leather,
wood, chemicals, paper, metals, and foodstuffs. There
were also other products that could not be classified
within these categories, such as cigarettes, umbrellas,
and artificial teeth. The factory for artificial teeth,
established by an American Jew in Tel Aviv, was a
notable instance of an enterprise based upon imported
materials, and the good quality of its products was
proved by the fact that they were exported mainly to
England. By the year 1930 there were over 2,000 Jewish
urban enterprises, employing nearly 10,000 persons, and
manufacturing goods worth over 1,600,000 a year.

An important part in the development of these in-
dustries was played by the Palestine Electric Corpora-
tion, which operated the concessions granted to Pinhas
Rutenberg for the production of electric power from the
Jordan and the Auja. Other leading enterprises were
cement works, a factory for oils and soap, and large
flour mills, all situated at Haifa. The wine trade pro-
duced in 1929 about 30 million litres of wines and spirits
worth 80,000. All these industries gave an incentive to
the motor transport trade in the form of buses and lorries,
which was largely promoted by Jewish enterprise.

BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME,

GROWTH OF COMMERCE

The industrial advancement of the country was
reflected in the expansion of commerce and the growth of
trade relations with other countries. The Jewish banks
actively co-operated in these developments. A number of
English Jews, in 1921, created the Economic Board for
Palestine, under the chairmanship of the first Lord
Melchett/ for the promotion of commerce and industry,
and a similar body was formed a few years later by some
American Jews under the name of the Palestine Eco-
nomic Corporation. The interests of workshops on a
co-operative basis were effectively looked after by the
Central Bank of Co-operative Institutions and the
Workers 3 Bank.

HEBREW EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Great as was the progress made in all fields of economic
activity, it was paralleled by the achievements in the
spheres of education and health. The Zionist Executive
took over the maintenance of the Hebrew schools in
Palestine (forming about 80 per cent, of all the Jewish
schools) as naturally as the Government took under its
care the Arab schools, for the Hebrew schools constituted
the fundamental cultural basis of Jewish national life.
They played no small part in the Hebraisation of the
parents and of the Jewish population in general. By the
year 1928 the Zionist educational net- work embraced
over 220 schools, with nearly 20,000 pupils, and had an
expenditure of 120,000, towards which the Govern-
ment gave a grant of 20,000. The Keren Hayesod
contributed 70,000, and the balance was provided by
the rishm* and the P.LC.A.

The Zionist educational system comprises all grades

1 Lord Melchett (1868-1930), formerly Sir Alfred M. Mond, Bart., Member of
House of Commons (1906-28), member of British Government (1916-22), and
first Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd.

2 Collective term meaning literally "settlement/* used for the Jewish population
of Palestine or Israel.

I2O A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

kindergarten, elementary, and secondary schools, as well
as schools and teachers' seminaries. Owing to

ideological differences, there are three kinds of schools
general, Mizrachi, and Labour, a system that has been
subjected to much criticism, but for the simplification of
which no proposal has yet proved acceptable. In the
general schools there is instruction in the Bible and
prayer-book, while the question of religious observance
Is left to the parents; but in the Mizrachi schools religious
observance is taught by the teachers and the curriculum
Includes purely religious subjects, like the Talmud. The
schools In the Labour settlements also have their own
curriculum, as the parents wish their children to be
brought up in their own ideology.

TECHNICAL INSTITUTE AND UNIVERSITY

Technical training of an advanced character is pro-
vided at the Haifa Technical Institute, which now
comprises a College of Technology, a Technical High
School, and a Nautical School. The crowning feature of
the edifice of Jewish education is the Hebrew University,
which was originally conceived as a centre of research
and post-graduate study but became a teaching in-
stitution a few years after it was opened. Its first faculty
comprised Institutes of Jewish and Oriental Studies and
held general courses in philosophy, but gradually there
were added faculties of humanities, mathematics, science
and medicine, until the University became the most
notable academic centre throughout the Near and
Middle East. Not only its students but the general public
made the fullest use of the Jewish National and Univer-
sity Library, which, by the year 1929, already had
250,000 volumes.

JEWISH HEALTH SERVICES

In the interests of the physical welfare of the Jewish
population, the Zionist Executive set up a Health

BUILDING THE NATIONAL HOME, igig-IQ2g 121

Council (Vaad Habriuth] for the purpose of co-ordinating
and supervising all Jewish institutions and organisations
concerned with health work and co-operating with the
Public "Health Department of the Government. The
Hadassah Medical Organisation and the Kupath Holim
were the bodies mainly responsible for the Jewish Health
Service, to which the Government made a small grant.
The Hadassah Organisation, which was founded and
supported by Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organisa-
tion of America, began its activity in Palestine in 1918.
It established and maintained a number of hospitals,
clinics, and laboratories in the principal Jewish centres, as
well as a nurses' training school in Jerusalem; and it also
organised an excellent maternity and child hygiene
service in most of the large cities and in a number of the
bigger villages.

The Kupath Holim, the Sick Benefit Society of the
Jewish Labour Federation, had its own hospitals, out-
patient departments, and convalescent homes, whose
cost was covered chiefly by membership dues and partly
by contributions from employers and grants from the
Zionist Executive and the Hadassah. Thanks to the
systematic efforts of the Hadassah and the Kupath Holim
the prevalence of such diseases as tuberculosis, malaria,
trachoma, and typhoid, which previously had sorely tried
the Jewish (and still more the Arab) population, was
very considerably reduced and health conditions were
greatly improved.

Such then were the results of the efforts and activities
of the Jews who returned to the home of their ancestors
from the widely scattered lands of the Galuth (diaspora)
during the first 10 years of the British occupation. Such
were the main features of the Jewish National Home as
planned and developed under the direction or with the
aid and advice of the Zionist Executive. The progress
achieved was impressive; but it would have been far
greater if the Palestine Administration had been more
actively helpful and if the prosperous Jews outside
Palestine had co-operated more generously. But the

122 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

foundations of the National Home were now well and
truly laid, as was proved in the coming years of strife and
stress ? of assault and bloodshed, which so sorely tried
the struggling Tishuv, but left it materially unshaken and

spiritually Invigorated.

CHAPTER IX

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS
1929-1935

A DECADE OF UNREST

E Zionist movement passed through a very
JL agitated period during the ten years from 1929 until
the outbreak of war. It was a decade that was ushered
in by the third Arab assault upon the Jewish National
Home and closed with a three-year Arab rebellion. It
was a period punctuated by frequent visits to Palestine
from enquiry commissions, one even exalted by the title
of "Royal," and all of them bent upon seeking the causes
of the recurring disorders, but failing to find any effective
remedy. It was the period in which, at one stage> there
was held out the promise of an independent Jewish State,
only to be succeeded shortly afterwards by the threat of
the creation of an Arab State, in which the Jews would
be doomed to be a permanent and helpless minority.
It was also a period in which there were serious internal
differences and a secession. The prelude to this memor-
able decade was the consolidation of the Zionist move-
ment by the extension of the Jewish Agency; its epilogue
was provided by the chaos and carnage of the Second
World War.

EXTENSION OF THE JEWISH AGENCY

It was not long after the issue of the Balfour Declara-
tion that it was realised in responsible Zionist circles that
the establishment of the Jewish National Home would
prove too formidable a task for the unaided efforts of the
Zionist Organisation, and that it would be necessary to
obtain the active co-operation, on as large a scale as
possible, of Jews who remained outside the Organisation.
Apart from the material reasons for enlisting the co-
operation of non-Zionists, there was also the injunction

124 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

contained In Article 4 of the Mandate. This Article
stated that "an appropriate Jewish Agency shall ^be
recognised as a public body for the purpose of advising
and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine
in such economic,, social, and other matters as may affect
the establishment of the Jewish National Home and the
interests of the Jewish population in Palestine." It
expressly recognised the Zionist Organisation as such
agency and required that the Organisation "shall take
steps, in consultation with His Britannic Majesty's
Government, to secure the co-operation of all Jews who
are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish
National Home."

The question whether this co-operation should be
sought, and, if sought, how it should be organised and
maintained, formed the subject of the keenest controversy
for six years. It constituted one of the main features of
the four Zionist Congresses held between 1923 and 1929,
until agreement was eventually achieved. The most
energetic and determined advocate of the extension of
the Jewish Agency by the inclusion of representatives of
non-Zionist Jewry was Dr. Weizmann. Between 1924
and 1927 he visited the United States for the purpose a
number of times and addressed Jewish conferences under
the chairmanship of Mr. Louis Marshall, 1 President of the
American Jewish Committee and the recognised leader
of American Jewry. For the Jews in the United States
were able to make a far more substantial contribution to
the development of Palestine than those of any other
country, and it was therefore essential to gain their
adhesion before enlisting that of other communities.

RADICAL AND REVISIONIST OPPOSITION

Within the Zionist ranks bitter opposition to seeking
tHs adhesion was waged primarily by two parties that
now emerged. The first was the Radical Party, headed by
Isaac Gruenbaum, a leader of Polish Jewry and a

* Bom at Syracuse, IMteci States, 1856, died at Zurich, 1929.

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 125

member of the Polish Parliament. The Radicals, who
first appeared at the Congress of 1923, insisted that the
enlarged Jewish Agency should be based on the results
of democratic elections, as they feared that a body
containing selected representatives, or "notables/ 5 as
they sarcastically called them, would ignore the prin-
ciples of Zionism. They were joined at the Congress of
1925 by the new party of Revisionists created by
Vladimir Jabotinsky. This party was so called because its
founder advocated a "revision" of Zionist policy in the
sense of a return to HerzPs original conception of a
Jewish State. Jabotinsky contended that the direction
of Zionist policy could be entrusted only to Jews with
strong nationalist convictions, and that it would be
prejudicial to Zionist ideals to allow "assimilationist
notables" to take part in exercising the rights of the
Jewish Agency. Despite this joint opposition (reinforced
by a group of General Zionists) the Congress of 1925
decided in favour of the establishment of a Council of
the Jewish Agency consisting of an equal number of
Zionists and non-Zionists, provided that the activities
of the Agency were conducted on the following c in-
violable principles 55 namely, a continuous increase in
the volume of Jewish immigration, the redemption of the
land as Jewish public property, agricultural colonisation
based on Jewish labour, and the Hebrew language and
Hebrew culture. It was also laid down that the Jewish
community of the United States should provide 40 per
cent, of the non-Zionist section, and that the President
of the Zionist Organisation should be the President of
the enlarged Agency.

JOINT PALESTINE SURVEY COMMISSION

Early in 1927 Dr. Weizmann and Mr. Marshall signed
an agreement for extending the Jewish Agency in accord-
ance with the terms of the Palestine Mandate and along
the general lines of the Congress resolutions. The Agree-
ment also provided for setting up a Joint Palestine

126 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Survey Commission for the purpose of investigating the
economic resources and possibilities of Palestine and
framing a long-term programme of constructive work.
This Commission, which consisted of the first Lord
Melchett, Dr. Lee K. Frankel and Mr. Felix Warburg,
of New York, and Mr. Oscar Wassermann, a Berlin
banker., was assisted by a distinguished group of technical
experts, and after concluding their work in Palestine they
Issued, In 1928, a voluminous report with important
practical recommendations. At length, after six years of
discussion and negotiations the Sixteenth Congress, held
at Zurich in 1929, decided by an overwhelming majority
in favour of enlarging the Jewish Agency. In addition
to the conditions previously adopted, it was agreed that all
lands acquired with money of the Jewish Agency should
be the property of the Jewish people and subject to all
the principles of the Jewish National Fund, that settlers
should have the right to choose their form of settlement,
and that the principle of Jewish labour must be safe-
guarded In all undertakings furthered by the Jewish
Agency.

CONSTITUENT MEETING OF JEWISH AGENCY COUNCIL

The Congress was immediately followed by the con-
stituent meeting of the Council of the enlarged Jewish
Agency. The various communities, on both sides of the
Atlantic, that had agreed to participate were represented
by 100 non-Zionist members of the Council, and there
was an equal number of Zionist members elected the
previous day by the Congress. It was a gathering of
unique significance and a demonstration of Jewish
solidarity far more impressive than the First Zionist
Congress held 32 years before. Side by side with Dr.
Wdzmann, who presided over the proceedings, and his
veteran colleagues, Sokolow and Ussishkin, sat eminent
personalities like Sir Herbert Samuel, Professor Albert
Einstein, Leon Blum, the French statesman, and Lord
Mdchett, the leader of British industry. In addition to

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 127

the Council of 200 members, the Constitution provided
for an Administrative Committee of 40, and a small
Executive, each body to be composed of an equal
number of Zionists and non-Zionists. The Council,
corresponding to the Congress, was to meet once in two
years, and the Administrative Committee, corresponding
to the Zionist General Council, was to meet (as far as
circumstances permitted) once in six months. Dr. Weiz-
mann was elected President of the Jewish Agency, Mr.
Louis Marshall was elected Chairman and Lord Melchett
Associate-Chairman of the Council, and Mr, Felix
Warburg Chairman of the Administrative Committee.
The Keren Hayesod was declared to be the main
financial instrument of tbe Agency for covering the
budget, and the organisation and status of the Jewish
National Fund and its relations with the Zionist Organ-
isation were left intact.

The assumption by the Jewish Agency of the principal
activities connected with the establishment of the Jewish
National Home did not, in practice, appreciably dimin-
ish the sphere or volume of activity of the Zionist
Organisation, as the major part of the burden continued
to rest upon it, and it continued to devote itself to
Zionist propaganda, the furtherance of Hebrew culture,
and the raising of funds. Having yielded its rights under
the Mandate to the reconstituted Jewish Agency, the
Zionist Organisation addressed an inquiry to the
Colonial Office to ascertain whether, in the event of a
dissolution of the partnership, it could recover those
rights. After the lapse of twelve months, owing to a
sequence of disasters, there came a reply that, in the case
of such dissolution, the British Government would,
provided that its organisation and constitution were at
that time appropriate, again recognise the Zionist
Organisation as the Jewish Agency for the purpose of
Article 4 of the Mandate.

128 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

THE WESTERN WALL INCIDENT

The sense of joy felt throughout the Jewish world at
the union of non-Zionists with Zionists in the task of
restoring the ancient homeland was soon overclouded by
tidings of a catastrophe in the land itself. Little more
than a week after the memorable assembly in Zurich was
over, a fresh outburst of Arab brutality against the Jews
took place. It lasted longer and was much more serious
in its consequences than the attacks of 1920 and 1921, for
the victims that it claimed were 133 Jews killed (over 60
in Hebron alone) and 339 wounded. This outrage was
not a sudden or spontaneous outburst, but the result of
premeditated action, preceded by agitation that had
been simmering for twelve months. The incentive came
from an incident in connection with the Day of Atone-
ment service at the Western Wall in 1928. A temporary
screen that had been placed against the Wall to divide
the male from the female worshippers, in accordance
with strict orthodox practice, was forcibly removed
during the service by a British police officer, because of a
complaint from the guardian of the Wdkf (Moslem
charitable endowment) that the screen constituted a
violation of the Moslem rights of property. The conse-
quence of this incident, which aroused a storm of protest
throughout the Jewish world, was that the Moslem
authorities felt emboldened to make various structural
alterations quite near the Western Wall, which was part
of the exterior of the Haram al-Sherif, the sacred area
containing the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of
El Aksa, These alterations, together with the holding of
a cacophonous ceremony in an adjoining room, made it
almost impossible for the Jewish worshippers to engage
in their devotions.

The Jews petitioned the Government in Jerusalem and
in London, with the result that a White Paper was
issued, stating that the Jewish community had the right
of access to the Western WaU for prayer, but could bring
to it "only those appurtenances of worship which were

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 1 29

permitted under the Turkish regime." No definition,
however, was given of these appurtenances. The Govern-
ment stopped the Moslem nuisance near the Wailing
Wall for a short time, but the Arabs began an inflam-
matory propaganda, in which they accused the Jews of
designs upon the Mosque of Omar itself. The agitation
was conducted by a "Society for the Protection of the
Moslem Holy Places," which was founded and con-
trolled by the Mufti and the Arab Executive in general.
The object of the Mufti was to mobilise on a religious
issue the public opinion of the Moslems, which he had
been unable to arouse on purely political grounds, and at
the same time to secure for himself the united support of
all sections in the retention of the office of President of
the Supreme Moslem Council, to which he had been
appointed for only a limited number of years. In such an
atmosphere only a spark was needed to cause a con-
flagration. It broke out on August 23rd, 1929.

THE DISORDERS OF 1929

An orgy of savagery, murder, and looting spread from
Jerusalem to a number of small settlements and even to
Haifa, though the most horrible attacks were upon men,
women, and children in Hebron and Safed. Troops were
hurried to the scene from Egypt and Malta, and in
supressing the riots they and the police killed 1 16 Arabs
and wounded 232. The High Commissioner, Sir John
Chancellor, who had been on a visit to England, hastily
returned to Palestine, and shortly afterwards he was
followed by a Commission of Enquiry despatched by the
British Government. This Commission consisted of Sir
Walter Shaw as chairman, and of one representative of
each of the three principal political parties. In announc-
ing its appointment, the Colonial Secretary, Lord Pass-
field (formerly Sidney Webb) reaffirmed the statement
previously made by the Foreign Secretary (Arthur Hender-
son) that the enquiry was "limited to the immediate
emergency 3 ' and would not "extend to considerations

i

1 30 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

of major policy." But when the Commission's Report
appeared in March, 1930, it was found that the Com-
mission had trespassed far beyond their instructions.

THE SHAW REPORT

The Report stated that the outbreak cc was from the
beginning an attack by Arabs on Jews, for which no
excuse in the form of earlier murders by Jews had been
established. 55 The majority of the Commission appor-
tioned "a share in the responsibility for the disturbances"
to the Mufti, and blamed Mufti and Arab Executive for
failure to make any attempt to control their followers.
But Mr. (later Lord) Snell, the Labour member of the
Commission, in a long note of Reservations, attributed
to the Mufti u a greater share in the responsibility for the
disturbance" and dissociated himself from the general
attitude of his colleagues towards the Palestine problem
as well as from some of their criticisms and conclusions.
He blamed the Palestine Government for not having
issued an official communique denying that the Jews
had designs on the Moslem Holy Places; stated that
what was required was less a change of policy than a
change of mind on the part of the Arab population, who
had been encouraged to believe that the Jewish immi-
grants were a permanent menace to their livelihood and
future; and recommended that any land found to be
unexploited should be made available to the Jews.
The Commission found that the fundamental cause of
the riots lay in the Arabs 3 "disappointment of their
political and national aspirations and fear for their
economic future. 3 ' Its main recommendations justified
the worst fears of those who had been anxious that the
Commission should not trespass beyond its terms of
reference. Despite the assurances given by the Govern-
ment, the Report dealt with questions of immigration,
land, and constitutional development, and culminated
in the proposal that the Government should issue a new
statement of policy.

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935

SIR JOHN HOPE SIMPSON'S REPORT

In order to allay Zionist anxieties, the Prime Minister
(Ramsay MacDonald) stated in the House of Commons
that the Government would "continue to administer
Palestine in accordance with the terms of the Mandate.
. . . That is an international obligation from which there
can be no receding." But a few weeks later the Govern-
ment despatched Sir John Hope Simpson to Palestine to
enquire into the whole question of immigration, land
settlement and development. His Report was published
in October, 1 930, together with a White Paper contain-
ing a fresh exposition of British policy. The Report was
a disappointment, as it gave a much lower estimate of the
cultivable area of the country than had hitherto been
accepted; it implied that Jewish colonisation had resulted
in the displacement of a large number of Arab peasants;
and it declared that, apart from the lands held by Jews in
reserve, there was "with the present methods of Arab
cultivation no margin of land available for agricultural
settlement by new immigrants." The Jewish Agency
challenged the Report on its facts and figures, and the
British Government assured the Permanent Mandates
Commission that these were in dispute and called for
further investigation.

THE PASSFIELD WHITE PAPER

The accompanying White Paper was much more
alarming and objectionable. This document, issued under
the authority of Lord Passfield, the Colonial Secretary,
and consequently designated by his name, was a dis-
quieting sequel to the Churchill White Paper of 1922, for
it went much further in whittling down the meaning of
the Balfour Declaration and the articles of the Mandate.
It foreshadowed fresh restrictions in regard to immigra-
tion, threatened the Jews with an embargo on further
purchases of land, and commented upon their work in
Palestine in terms that were utterly incompatible with

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

the friendly support that the Jewish people believed it
had a right to expect from the British Government. The
result was a world-wide storm of indignation, coupled
with the resignation by Dr. Weizmann, who had always
pursued a policy of co-operation with the Mandatory
Power, of his office as President of the Jewish Agency.
The White Paper was denounced by the two surviving
members of the War Cabinet, Mr. Lloyd George and
General Smuts; it was severely attacked in The Times by
leading statesmen of all parties; and it formed the subject
of a debate in the House of Commons (November i yth,
1930), in which the Zionist standpoint met with general
sympathy. Finally, the Prime Minister announced that
the Government had agreed to set up a Committee of
Cabinet Ministers to discuss the situation with repre-
sentatives of the Jewish Agency.

THE PRIME MINISTER'S LETTER

The outcome of these discussions was the publication,
on February I3th, 1931, of a statement in the form of a
Letter from the Prime Minister to Dr. Weizmann. This
Letter, while not a repudiation of the White Paper,
explained away and negatived its objectionable passages,
and was couched throughout in a friendly tone. It
expressly reaffirmed the Preamble to the Mandate, and
recognised that "the Jewish Agency has all along given
willing co-operation in carrying out the policy of the
Mandate, and that the constructive work done by the
Jewish people in Palestine has had beneficent effects on
the development and well-being of the country as a
whole. 55 It made it clear that "the obligation to facilitate
Jewish immigration and to encourage close settlement
by Jews on the land remains a positive obligation of the
Mandate/ 5 It stated that a careful inquiry would be
made into the number of alleged "displaced Arabs 55
(which had been advanced by the Shaw Commission
as one of the contributory causes of the riots of 1929),
that a comprehensive inquiry would also be made to

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 133

ascertain "what State and other lands are, or properly
can be made, available for close settlement by Jews/*
and that it was the Government's cc defmite intention to
initiate an active policy of development, which it is
believed will result in substantial and lasting benefit to
both Jews and Arabs. 53 The importance of this Letter
was indicated by the fact that it was printed in the
Parliamentary Report, embodied in official instructions
to the High Commissioner, and communicated to the
League of Nations.

MR. LEWIS FRENCH'S REPORT

To give effect to the policy outlined in this Letter, the
Government appointed Mr. Lewis French, in July, 1931,
to carry out a systematic inquiry in Palestine and draw
up specific proposals in regard to agricultural develop-
ment and land settlement. Mr. French was required in
particular to prepare a register of "displaced Arabs" 1
and draw up a scheme for their resettlement, and to
investigate the methods necessary for carrying out the
Government's proposed policy of land settlement,
including the provision of credits for Arab cultivators
and Jewish settlers, and proposals for draining and
irrigating land. When his Reports were at length re-
leased, two years later (July i4th, 1933), they were
found to be sterile and discouraging. His general con-
clusion was that there was nothing, for the time being,
that the Government could do for the assistance or en-
couragement of Jewish agricultural development, and
that the exploitation of the Beisan and Huleh districts
and of the Jordan Valley would not be an economic
proposition. Worse still, he made a set of proposals for
the enactment of restrictive legislation. The Jewish
Agency published its views in a Memorandum, in which
it declared that it could not see in the Reports the out-
line of the scheme contemplated in the Prime Minister's

1 The term "displaced Arabs'* was defined as "such Arabs as can be shown,
to have been displaced from, the lands which they occupied in consequence of the
land passing into Jewish hands, and who have not obtained other holdings on
which they can establish themselves, or other equally satisfactory occupation."

134 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Letter, and that "these Reports cannot be accepted as a
basis of land and development policy in Palestine, in the
execution of which the Jewish Agency would find itself
in a position to co-operate. 3 * One satisfactory outcome,
however, of the inquiry was to establish the fact that over
a period of 12 years there were only 664 "displaced
Arabs."

SETTLING THE DISPLACED ARABS

As a practical sequel to the recommendations of the
various Commissions, the British Government, in May,
I 934> obtained the authority of Parliament to guarantee
a loan of 2,000,000 to be raised by the Palestine
Government for various agricultural improvements and
public works. But the loan proved unnecessary as the
Palestine Government, thanks to the prosperity brought
to the country by Jewish economic enterprise, actually
enjoyed a good surplus. The sum of 250,000 had been
allocated for the resettlement of displaced Arabs, but
only one-third of that amount was actually needed for
the accommodation of all genuinely displaced Arabs
who took up holdings on Government estates. 1

PROGRESS OF THE NATIONAL HOME

It was rather remarkable that while the various Com-
missions of Inquiry were laboriously seeking means to
deprive the Arabs of further pretexts for agitation,
Palestine was actually experiencing a period of material
progress unprecedented in its history. This was almost
entirely due to the labour, capital, and enterprise
systematically applied by the Jewish settlers, who con-
tinued to arrive in swelling numbers. Jewish immigra-
tion figures rose from 5,000, in 1929, to nearly twice that
number in 1932. In the following year, they spurted up
to 30,000; in 1934 they exceeded 42,000; and in 1935,

1 Only about 100 Arab families availed themselves of the opportunity of re-
settlement offered by the Palestine Government, and, according to the Govern-
ment's Report for 1937, about 50 of them "deserted the settlement and are
engaged, for the most part, in other than agricultural work."

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 135

they soared to the record total of nearly 62,000* This
growing influx was one of the consequences of the Nazi
persecution of the Jews in Germany, who were made to
realise that their only salvation lay in emigration, and
the Land of Israel had an appeal for many which was
unequalled by that of other countries. There were also
substantial tributaries to the stream of immigration from
other lands, in Central and Eastern Europe, where the
screw of intolerance was turned as the savagery of
Hitlerism advanced. All these newcomers brought with
them not only the energy and will to build for them-
selves a new livelihood, but also, in very numerous
cases, technical skill, patent processes, and their own
machinery. Moreover, quite a considerable quantity of
Jewish capital was imported Into the country. It
amounted, in the 20 years between 1919 and 1939, to
at least 120,000,000, of which at least one-third was
introduced during the five years before the War. The
progress of the National Home was reflected in all
sorts of directions: in the steady expansion of land in
Jewish ownership and cultivation: in the increasing
number of Jewish agricultural settlements; in the growth
of Jewish residential districts; in the multiplication of
factories, mills, and workshops; in the extension of
trades; in the improvement and enlargement of the
health and educational services; and in the fruitful
impetus given to all forms of cultural activity.

INTERNAL ZIONIST CHANGES

On the other hand, the succession of inquiries, with the
spate of Blue Books and White Papers which they gener-
ated, had a disturbing effect upon the Zionist Movement
itself. The Congress of 1931 pointed out that the Prime
Minister's Letter contained reservations that were a
source of some anxiety, and drew attention to the
continued difficulties attaching to the purchase of land
and to the employment of Jewish labour on public works
in Palestine. At this Congress, Dr, Weizmann^ who had

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

previously announced Ms resignation, delivered a vale-
dictory address In which he gave a comprehensive survey
of his efforts during the past 12 years to co-operate loyally
with the British Government, and he was succeeded by
Mr. Sokolow as President of the Zionist Organisation
and of the Jewish Agency. This Congress also witnessed
a growth in numbers of the Revisionists, who now formed
the third strongest party. Jabotinsky and his supporters
not only attacked the policy of Weizmann, but, con-
stituting themselves the extreme Right Wing of the
Movement, levelled the most scathing criticism upon the
Labour Party and its activities in Palestine.

REVISIONIST SPLIT AND SECESSION

The Congress of 1933 was overshadowed by the
tragedy of German Jewry. It declared it to be "the duty
of the Mandatory Power to open the gates of Palestine
for as large an immigration of German Jews as possible
and to facilitate their settlement," and it decided to
create a Central Bureau for the purpose, of which Dr.
Weizrnann was elected director. The Congress was also
deeply agitated by the assassination of Dr. Arlosoroff,
the Labour member of the Executive, which had taken
place in Tel Aviv two months before. Two young
Revisionists had been charged with the murder, and one
of them was convicted but afterwards acquitted on
appeal. The result was increased antagonism and
bitterness between the Labour Party and the Revision-
ists. Although the Revisionists were a party within the
Zionist Organisation, Jabotinsky also organised them
into a World Union, which acted independently of the
Zionist Organisation and in opposition to the declared
policy of Congress, made separate representations to
Governments and the League of Nations, and boycotted
all Zionist funds. The Revisionists were now disunited,
as a minority broke away under the leadership of Mr.
Meir Grossmann and created the Jewish State Party.
Labour had for the first time become the strongest Party

CONGRESSES AND COMMISSIONS, 1929-1935 137

and secured 40 per cent, of the seats on the new
Executive.

The interval between the Congress of 1933 and that of
1935 witnessed the secession from the Zionist Organisa-
tion of the Revisionists. In order to counteract the in-
subordination of Jabotinsky's Party, the Congress of
1933 had passed a resolution affirming that in all Zionist
questions membership of the Zionist Organisation entailed
a duty of discipline in regard to its consitution and
decisions, which took precedence over the claims of any
other body. In the following year the Zionist Executive
printed the text of this resolution on the new Shekel
vouchers as a general reminder. This provoked resentful
criticism on the part of the Revisionists, who resolved to
ignore the prescribed regulation and to break away. On
April 25th, 1935, they announced that they had seceded
from the Zionist Organisation, but the Jewish State
Party loyally remained within it. Some time later
Jabotinsky founded the "New Zionist Organisation,"
which systematically boycotted all the funds and in-
stitutions of the Zionist Organisation and frittered away
most of its energy In futile attacks upon the parent body. 1

PROBLEMS OF GERMAN JEWRY

The Congress of 1935, which met in Lucerne, was
again gravely preoccupied with the problems arising
from the plight of German Jewry, It demanded a
quickening of the tempo in the development of the
Jewish National Home and stressed many grievances:
the scanty immigration schedules, the reduced share of
Jewish labour in public and municipal works, the
unduly small percentage of Jews in the Government
service, and the very meagre grants by the Government
to the Jewish education and health services despite the
large Jewish contribution to its revenue. The arrange-
ments that had been made to facilitate the transfer of

1 The "New Zionist Organisation" was dissolved in 1946, its members joining
the Jewish State Party, which was renamed United Zionist Revisionists.

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

the capital of German Jews wishing to settle in Palestine
aroused a keen and somewhat embittered discussion.
An agreement had been concluded in 1933 with the
German Reichsbank by the Anglo-Palestine Bank and
the German Jewish banks of Wassermann and Warburg,
whereby emigrants to Palestine could receive their
money from a clearing-house there, out of the payments
made by Palestinian importers of German goods. The
agreement was strongly defended on the ground that it
was the only means of salvaging the property of thou-
sands of German Jews and thus augmenting the resources
of the Tishuv, while it brought no fresh money into the
Reich. It was decided that the whole business of the
Haavarah (or "transfer," as the arrangement was called)
should, in order to keep it within justifiable limits, be
placed under the control of the Executive. 1

The Congress concluded by re-electing Dr. Weizmann
as President of the Zionist Organisation and electing Mr.
Sokolow as Honorary President. It adopted a budget of
nearly 400,000, more than double the budget of the
previous Congress, an increase that reflected the im-
provement in the financial position. The Council of the
Jewish Agency, which met immediately after, approved
the budget and the resolutions relating to the work in
Palestine, and both Zionists and non-Zionists looked
forward to the coming years with hope mingled with no
little concern. Little did they dream that a more deter-
mined and violent attempt than any before was now to
be made to undermine the foundations of the Jewish
National Home.

i A total of 8,000,000 of Jewish capital was transferred by this method from
Germany to Palestine.

CHAPTER X

THE ARAB REBELLION

PROPOSED LEGISIATIVE COUNCIL

THE new and organised assault by the Arabs, which
was to last over three years, was the outcome appar-
ently of the Palestine Government's scheme to secure
their political co-operation. At the end of December,
1935, the High Commissioner announced proposals for
the establishment of a Legislative Council, a project for
which had been rejected by the Arab leaders in 1922 and
then dropped. According to the revived scheme, the
Council was to consist of 28 members, 12 elected (nine
Arabs and three Jews) , 1 1 nominated (five Arabs, four
Jews and two representatives of the commercial world),
and five officials, meeting under an impartial president
previously unconnected with Palestine. Subject to the
articles of the Mandate and the High Commissioner's
powers to maintain law and good government, the
Council was to have the right to debate and amend all
Bills introduced by the Government; but the final
decision was to rest with the High Commissioner, whose
consent was necessary for the proposal of any measures
by the Council. The Jewish leaders rejected the scheme
mainly on the ground that the Jews would thereby be
reduced to minority status in their National Home,
whose development would be obstructed by a Council,
the majority of whose members would not recognise the
Mandate.

THE ARAB REBELLION

The leaders of the five different Arab parties were
disagreed about the scheme, and were therefore invited
by the Colonial Secretary to send a deputation to London
to discuss the matter. But before agreement could be

140 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

reached about the composition of the deputation, there
began, in Jaffa, on April igth, 1936, murderous attacks
by Arabs on Jews, which soon spread throughout the
country, and also included assaults upon the British
military and police. The "Arab Higher Committee/ 3
representing the various parties, proclaimed a general
strike and formulated three main demands: (i) stoppage
of Jewish Immigration; (2) the prohibition of the sale of
land to Jews; and (3) the creation of a "National
Representative Government. 33 These demands were
rejected by the Government. As the terrorism developed
Into an organised rebellion against the Government,
military reinforcements were brought from Egypt and
Malta, and as these proved inadequate, further rein-
forcements were sent from England, bringing the
number of troops in Palestine up to 20,000; but relatively
little use was made of them. There were acts of murder,
robbery, and sabotage throughout the country. The
armed terrorists did not confine themselves to the
destruction of Jewish life and property, but cut telegraph
and telephone wires, derailed trains, obstructed traffic
on the roads by land mines, and set fire to the oil-pipe
line between Haifa and Iraq. The situation was
aggravated by the vacillation displayed by the Govern-
ment, by its leniency and inconsistency in applying its
own emergency regulations, by the delay in punishing
persons caught infringing the law, and by the alternation
of stern action with official parleying with the leaders.
It was officially admitted that there was "propaganda
from outside sources, 33 but the position was really graver
than that. The terrorists were assisted not only by mercen-
aries from over the border (especially from Iraq and Syria)
but also by funds and arms from Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy, which were interested in making trouble for
Britain.

THE PALESTINE ROYAL COMMISSION

Three months after the beginning of the outbreak the
British, Government announced the appointment of a

THE ARAB REBELLION, I935~~I939

Royal Commission, under the chairmanship of Earl Peel
(a former Secretary of State for India), with terms of
reference more comprehensive and far-reaching than
those of all previous Commissions. It was to ascertain the
causes of the disorders; to inquire into the manner in
which the Mandate was being implemented in relation
to the obligations of the Mandatory towards the Arabs
and the Jews respectively; to ascertain whether , upon a
proper construction of the terms of the Mandate, either
the Arabs or the Jews had any legitimate grievances on
account of the way in which the Mandate was imple-
mented; and, finally, to make recommendations for the
removal of any grievances that were well founded. The
so-called "strike" was stopped by tke Arab Higher
Committee (after the intervention of the Iraqi Foreign
Minister, General Nuri Pasha), on October I2th, after
91 Jews had been killed and 367 had been wounded.

The members of the Royal Commission arrived in
Palestine a month later and remained until the middle
of January, 1937. They did their work very thoroughly,
and when their Report! appeared in the following July
a volume of 400 pages it was found to be the most inform-
ative and critical work on the administration of Palestine
since the beginning of the British occupation. It was
marked by a sympathetic appreciation of Jewish aspira-
tions and achievements. It consisted of a comprehensive
and analytic survey of the Palestine problem, an examina-
tion of the operation of the Mandate, and proposals for
"the possibility of a lasting settlement." In their conclu-
sions, the Commission stated that * c the underlying causes of
the disturbances, or (as we regard it) the rebellion of 1 936,
are, first, the desire of the Arabs for national independence;
secondly, their antagonism to the establishment of the
Jewish National Home, quickened by their fear of Jewish
domination."

THE ROYAL COMMISSION'S REPORT

The Royal Commission found that most of the Arab
grievances (e.g. the acquisition of land by Jews, Jewish

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Immigration, the use of Hebrew and English as the
official languages, the creation of landless Arabs) could
not be "regarded as legitimate under the terms of the
Mandate. 3 * They pointed out that the Arabs had sub-
stantially benefited by Jewish Immigration; that the
expansion of Arab Industry and citriculture had been
largely financed by Imported Jewish capital; that owing
to Jewish development and enterprise the employment
of Arab labour had increased in urban areas, particularly
in the ports; that the reclamation and anti-malarial work
undertaken in Jewish colonies had benefited all Arabs in
the neighbourhood; and that the general beneficent
effect of Jewish immigration on Arab welfare was
illustrated by the fact that the increase in the Arab
population was most marked in urban areas affected by
Jewish development. On the other hand, they found that
the attitude of Arab officials precluded any extension of
their employment In the higher posts of the Adminis-
tration, and stated that "self-governing institutions
cannot be developed in the peculiar circumstances of
Palestine under the Mandate."

As regards the main Jewish grievance, the Commission
suggested departmental decentralisation to mitigate
obstructions in the establishment of the Jewish National
Home, and recommended that British officers selected
for service in Palestine should have a course of special
training. On the question of the subversive activities of
the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini, they
stated it was unfortunate that no steps had been taken
to regulate elections for the Supreme Moslem Council,
and that the policy of conciliation had failed. They
suggested measures to provide land for close settlement
by the Jews and "to safeguard the rights and position of
die Arabs," and "limitation of the close settlement upon
the land to the plain districts." Their proposals in regard
to immigration were both novel and unwelcome. They
recommended that immigration should be "decided
upon political, social, and psychological as well as
economic considerations"; that a "political high level"

THE ARAB REBELLION, 1 935-1939 143

should be fixed at 12,000 a year for the next five years,
to include Jews of every category; and "the abolition of
certain categories dealing with members of the liberal
professions and craftsmen, and the revision of the con-
ditions governing the free entry of capitalists." They
regarded the failure to ensure public security as the most
serious of the Jewish complaints, and recommended the
enforcement of martial law if the disorders broke out
again.

THE PLAN OF PARTITION

All these recommendations, in the opinion of the Com-
mission, would not remove the grievances; they were
"the best palliatives 3 ' but could not "cure the trouble."
The Commission believed that the division of Palestine
into a Jewish and an Arab canton, whereby each would
have self-government in regard to social services, land
and immigration, while the central government would
retain control over all other matters, would involve
difficulties and satisfy neither Arabs nor Jews. They
therefore proposed the termination of the Mandate and
the division of Palestine into three parts: (i) a Jewish
State, mainly in the plains, comprising the whole of
Galilee, the whole of the Valley of Jezreel, the greater
part of Beisan, and all the coastal plain from Ras-el-
Nakura, in the north, to Beer-Tuvia, in the south (an
area equal to about one-fifth of Palestine west of the
Jordan); (2) an Arab State, including Transjordan, in
the hills, with a port at Jaffa; and (3) a British mandated
area, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth,
with a corridor from Jerusalem to the coast and an
enclave near Aqaba (as well as, temporarily, Tiberias,
Acre and Haifa) . Treaties of Alliance should be nego-
tiated by the Mandatory with the Government of Trans-
Jordan and representatives of the Arabs of Palestine, on
the one hand, and with the Zionist Organisation on the
other.

The Mandatory would support the admission of the
Jewish and Arab States to the League of Nations; there

144 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

would be strict guarantees for the protection of minorities
in each State, as well as financial and other provisions;
and there would be military conventions. The Jewish
State should pay a subvention to the Arab State; the
Public Debt of Palestine (about ^4,500,000) should be
divided between the two States; and the British Treasury
should make a grant of ^2,000,000 to the Arab State.
In view of the very large number of Arabs in the Jewish
area and the small number of Jews in the Arab area, the
Treaties should contain provisions for the transfer of land
and the exchange of population. For the period of
transition, the Commission recommended the prohibi-
tion of the purchase of land by Jews within the Arab
area or by the Arabs within the Jewish area, as well as
territorial restrictions on Jewish immigration instead of
the "political high level."

GOVERNMENT POLICY

The Report of the Royal Commission was accom-
panied by a Statement of Policy by the British Govern-
ment, declaring that they were a in general agreement
with the arguments and conclusions of the Commission"
and would take the necessary steps to give effect to the
scheme of partition. Meanwhile, any land transactions
that might prejudice the scheme were prohibited, and
the total Jewish immigration for the eight months'
period, August, 1937, to March, 1938, was limited to
8,000 persons. The House of Commons, after a vigorous
debate on the question, passed a resolution that the
partition proposals "should be brought before the League
of Nations with a view to enabling His Majesty's Govern-
ment, after adequate inquiry, to present to Parliament
a definite scheme."

DECISIONS OF CONGRESS AND JEWISH AGENCY

When the Twentieth Zionist Congress met in Zurich
in August, 1937, it devoted a week to an exhaustive

THE ARAB REBELLION, 1935-1939 145

discussion of the Commission's Report. It adopted resolu-
tions which stated that the partition scheme was un-
acceptable, that the Executive should ascertain the
precise terms of the Government for the proposed Jewish
State^ and that the Executive should bring any definite
scheme that might emerge before a newly elected Con-
gress for consideration and decision. The Congress
rejected the Commission's assertion that the Mandate
had proved unworkable, and demanded its fulfilment;
rejected the conclusion of the Commission that the
national aspirations of the Jewish people and those of the
Arabs of Palestine are irreconcilable; condemned the
"palliative" proposals; and protested against the decision
to fix a political maximum for Jewish immigration for the
next eight months. The Council of the Jewish Agency
endorsed the resolutions of Congress and directed the
Executive to request the British Government cc to convene
a Conference of the Jews and Arabs of Palestine with a
view to exploring the possibility of making a peaceful
settlement between Jews and Arabs in and for an un-
divided Palestine on the basis of the Balfour Declaration
and the Mandate. 55 This request was addressed to the
Government, but was refused.

THE LEAGUE'S CONCLUSIONS

The Permanent Mandates Commission of the League
was favourable in principle to an examination of the
proposed partition, but was opposed to the immediate
creation of two independent States,, and considered that
a prolongation of the period of political apprenticeship
constituted by the Mandate would be absolutely essential
to the two States. The Council of the League agreed to
the British Government's continuing to study the solution
of the problem by partition and deferred consideration
of the question until it was able to deal with it as a whole.

146 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

THE ARAB RESPONSE

The Arabs issued no official declaration on the Com-
mission's proposals, but,, after eight months 5 peace,
resumed in June, 1937, their campaign of terrorism and
assassination. The Palestine Government thereupon
declared all Arab Committees illegal, deported certain
members and imprisoned others. The Mufti of Jerusalem
was deprived of his office as President of the Supreme
Moslem Council and of membership of the General
Wakf Committee (of which he was chairman) , and a
fortnight later he escaped in disguise to Beyrout. As the
outrages continued, Military Courts were established in
November to try those accused of acts of violence, and
to impose sentences of death, with the result that some
Arab terrorists were executed. After the rebellion had
lasted three years it had claimed 5,774 victims, com-
prising 450 Jews killed and 1,944 wounded, 140 British
killed and 476 wounded, and 2,287 Arabs killed and
1,477 wounded. The Arab terrorists had murdered
more of their own people who refused to join them than
they had of Jews. They had also destroyed over 200,000
trees in Jewish settlements, but the Jews planted one
million more in their place proof that no atrocities,
however widespread or prolonged, could weaken the
determination of the Jews to rebuild their National Home.

THE PARTITION COMMISSION

Although the British Government had declared that
they were "in general agreement with the arguments
and conclusions of the Commission, 33 yet five months
later they published a despatch to the High Commis-
sioner for Palestine, stating that they were not committed
to its partition plan, and that another Commission
would be sent out to make fuller investigations and draw
up a more precise scheme. The task of the Partition
Commission, as it was called, was to advise as to the
provisional boundaries of the proposed Arab and Jewish

THE ARAB REBELLION, I935~I939 147

areas and the new mandated British area, and to under-
take the financial and other inquiries suggested by the
Royal Commission. This Commission, with Sir John
Woodhead as chairman, arrived in Palestine at the end
of April, 1938, and stayed there for three months. Their
Report, published in the following November^ unanim-
ously advised against the adoption of the scheme outlined
by the Royal Commission on the ground of Its imprac-
ticability. They also considered two alternative schemes,
but were not agreed as to either. They therefore reported
that they were "unable to recommend boundaries for
the proposed areas which will afford a reasonable
prospect of the eventual establishment of self-supporting
Arab and Jewish States."

The Government accepted the conclusions of the
Partition Commission and announced that they would
try to promote an understanding between the Arabs and
the Jews by convening a conference of representatives of
the Palestinian Arabs and of the neighbouring States on
the one hand, and of the Jewish Agency on the other.
The Jewish Agency thereupon issued a statement recall-
ing the fact that the request they had made after the
publication of the Royal Commission^ Report that the
Government should convene a Jewish-Arab Conference,
was at that time refused, and they viewed with grave
apprehension the proposal to invite the neighbouring
Arab States who had no special status in regard to
Palestine.

THE LONDON CONFERENCE

The Conference took place in London at St. James's
Palace, early in 1939. The Jewish side was represented
by the Executive of the Jewish Agency and by other
leading personalities, Zionist and non-Zionist, repre-
sentative of the British Empire, the United States, and
other countries. Most of the Palestinian Arab delegates
were followers of the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem; there were
also three delegates of the moderate National Defence
Party, but they played only a passive part. The Arab

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

States represented were Egypt, Saudi-Arabia, Iraq, the
Yemen, and Transjordan. The Government was repre-
sented by the Colonial Secretary (Mr. Malcolm Mac-
Donald), the Foreign Secretary (Lord Halifax), and the
Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Mr. R. A. Butler).
The Arabs refused to meet the Jewish delegates, al-
though the latter were willing to meet the others (and
had one informal meeting with representatives of the
Arab States), so that the Government conducted
Conferences with the two sides separately. As these talks
led to no agreement, they were broken off, and two
months later, on May lyth, the Government published
a White Paper, setting forth their new policy.

THE WHITE PAPER POLICY

The White Paper declared that the objective of the
Government was the establishment within 10 years of an
independent Palestine State. There would be a transi-
tional period, during which the people of Palestine
would be given an increasing part in the government of
the country. Arabs and Jews would be in charge of
departments approximately in proportion to their
population, with British advisers; the Executive Council
would be converted into a Council of Ministers; and
machinery would be provided for an elective legislature
if public opinion in Palestine were in favour of such a
development. Adequate provision would have to be
made for the security of the Holy Places, protection of
the interests of the various religious bodies, and "the
special position in Palestine of the Jewish National
Home. 55 But if, at the end of 10 years, the establishment
of the independent State had to be postponed, the
Government would consult with representatives of the
people of Palestine, the Council of the League of Nations,
and the neighbouring Arab States before deciding on
such a postponement. As for immigration, some 75,000
immigrants (including 25,000 refugees) would be ad-
mitted over the next five years 3 so as to bring the Jewish

THE ARAB REBELLION, I935~-I939 149

population up to approximately one-third of the total
population. After five years no further Jewish immigra-
tion would be permitted unless the Arabs agreed.

As regards the question of land, the High Commis-
sioner, in the interests of the Arab cultivators, would be
given general powers to prohibit and regulate transfers
of land and could also review and modify any orders in
relation thereto.

The Jewish Agency immediately published a state-
ment, in which they declared that the White Paper policy
was a denial of the right of the Jewish people to recon-
stitute their National Home in their ancestral country,
that it was a surrender to Arab terrorism and robbed the
Jews of their last hope in the darkest hour of their history,
and that they would never submit to the closing against
them of the gates of Palestine or let their National Home
be converted into a Ghetto. Although the White Paper
virtually conceded the main demands of the Arab
leaders, the ex-Mufti's party rejected it, but the Arab
moderates accepted it. The White Paper was severely
criticised in both Houses of Parliament by Members of
all parties, particularly by two former Colonial Secre-
taries. Mr. Winston Churchill stigmatised the document
as "a plain breach of a solemn obligation" and "another
Munich," and Mr. Amery said that he could never hold
up his head if he voted for it. It was strongly denounced
by Labour leaders, including Mr. Philip Noel-Baker,
who called it "cowardly and wrong," and Mr. Herbert
Morrison, who said that the Government "must under-
stand that this document will not be automatically
binding upon their successors in office, whatever the
circumstances of the time may be."

It was then examined by the Permanent Mandates
Commission, who unanimously rejected it on the ground
that "the policy set out in the White Paper was not in
accordance with the interpretation which, in agreement
with the Mandatory Power and the Council, the Com-
mission had always placed upon the Palestine Mandate."
The Commission also considered whether the Mandate

150 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

"might not perhaps be open to a new Interpretation
which . . . would be sufficiently flexible for the policy of
the White Paper not to appear at variance with it. 55 The
majority declared that they "did not feel able to state
that the policy of the White Paper was in conformity
with the Mandate/ 5 while the minority (Britain, France,
and Portugal) considered that "existing circumstances
would justify the policy of the White Paper, provided
the Council did not oppose it." Owing to the impend-
ing outbreak of war, no meeting of the Council of
the League of Nations could be held to consider
the Report of the Mandates Commission. But although
the White Paper thus failed to obtain legal sanc-
tion, the Government immediately began to apply it
in respect of Jewish immigration into Palestine. They
issued a reduced schedule for the months from May to
September, 1939, and suspended all further Jewish
immigration for the following six months, at the very
time when it would have been possible to save tens of
thousands of Jews from the Nazi terror.

THE LAST PRE-WAR CONGRESS

At the Twenty-first Zionist Congress, which opened at
Geneva only two weeks before the beginning of the war,
Dr. Weizmann arraigned the British Government in
bitter and searing words, such as he had never used
before. He accused it of unilaterally destroying an inter-
national obligation to the Jews which had been under-
taken before the whole civilised world, and of trying to
bring to a standstill the great historic process of the
return of Israel and the rebuilding of Palestine. After an
anxious week of earnest discussion, the Congress adopted
a series of resolutions, in which it rejected the policy of
the White Paper "as violating the rights of the Jewish
people and repudiating the obligation towards them
entered into by Great Britain in the Balfour Declaration
and the Mandate, and endorsed by the civilised nations
of the world. 5 ' Owing to the gradual darkening of the

THE ARAB REBELLION, 1 935-1 939

political horizon the Congress had to be curtailed. A
budget of ^720,000 was adopted and the retiring
Executive were re-elected.

In the concluding session. Dr. Weizmann said that
above and beyond their grievances there were higher
interests that were common to them and the Western
democracies. He hoped they would all survive the
coming conflict and that their work would continue.
Ussishkin 5 who, as President of the Congress, closed the
proceedings, dwelt on the fate that was awaiting the
Jews in the lands of Central and Eastern Europe as well
as those in Palestine. He hoped that the Jews of Poland
would not have to suffer too much in the disaster that
threatened, and in the time-honoured Hebrew phrase
he bade them all "Go in peace." The entire assembly
then rose and fervently sang "Hatikvah," 1 and with
mutual good wishes they streamed out of the Congress
building after midnight to face the unknown terrors of
the coming catastrophe.

1 "Hatikvah," composed by Naphtali Herz Imber in 1878, at Jassy, and popu-
larized years later by a Zionist Students 1 Society in Vienna and elsewhere, was
sung at a Zionist Congress for the first time at the Sixth Congress, in 1903; at the
end of the sixth and eighth sessions and at the conclusion of the Congress (Jewish
Chronicle, August 28th and September 4th, 1903). At that Congress another
Zionist song Dor t wo die Ceder, was also sung, but at the conclusion of the Eighth
Congress, in 1907, "Hatikvah" alone was sung, thus showing that it had at length
received recognition as the Jewish National Anthem. (The statement in the
author's previous work, The ionist Movement, on page 74, that "Hatikvah" was
sung at the end of the First Congress, has been shown by subsequent research to
be unfounded.)

CHAPTER XI

THE SECOND WORLD WAR

EFFECTS OF WAR UPON ZIONIST MOVEMENTS

THE Second World War had a devastating effect
upon the Zionist movement, as upon life in general,
throughout the European Continent, although Zionist
societies quickly revived in various countries as soon as
these were liberated. In all lands that remained free
from Nazi invasion, especially those of the English-
speaking peoples, the War gave a remarkable stimulus
to Zionist sentiment and evoked far more generous
support for the cause than in any previous period. In
Palestine the Arab disorders that raged for over three
years ceased, and all political controversy was silenced
in the face of the more formidable conflict that had
begun. Economic interests brought about a certain co-
operation between Arabs and Jews in the steps taken to
secure Government help, particularly in the important
citrus industry, and friendly relations developed also
in other spheres. Owing to the difficulties of shipping
and the consequent greatly reduced export of citrus
fruits, a heavy loss was inflicted upon the growers, which
was mitigated only partly by the subsidies and loans
provided by the Government and certain banks. There
was also a serious slump in the building industry owing
to the reduction of immigration and imported capital
and the lack of raw materials, but this was later offset to a
great extent by the impetus given to various manufac-
turing industries. The country soon adjusted itself,
however, to the new conditions, and as it became an
important military base a measure of prosperity gradu-
ally returned.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945 153

THE LAND RESTRICTIONS

Despite the Government's concern over the war, they
enacted regulations on February 28th, 1940,, for the sale
and transfer of land, in pursuance of the White Paper,
which had been emphatically rejected by the Mandates
Commission and had not been approved by the Council
of the League. The effect of these regulations was to
divide Palestine (west of the Jordan) into three zones,
in one of which land sales to Jews were prohibited, in
the second restricted to cases where it could be shown
that the transfer was for the purpose of extending or
facilitating the irrigation of holdings already in possession
of the transferee, and only in the third were they free.
This third zone, which included all municipal areas, the
Haifa industrial zone, and the maritime plain between
Tantura and Ramleh, was limited to only five per cent.
of the area of western Palestine. The official reason
given for these land regulations was to protect the
economic interests of the Arab peasantry; in fact, they
were intended to limit the zone of Jewish settlement to
the area where Jews already predominated and to bar
their access to the greater part of the country. Thus, the
ultimate achievement of a Jewish State on both sides of
the Jordan, the prospect held out in 1917 by the Balfour
Declaration, was reduced to a "Pale of Settlement"
only one-sixtieth of the original area.

REFUGEE BOAT TRAGEDIES

Whatever anxieties and hardships the Jews in Palestine
may have experienced in the first years of the war, they
were moved far more deeply by the tragic fate that over-
took thousands of refugees from Nazi oppression who
sought asylum in their National Home, but were not
admitted, because the Government, entirely ignoring
their exceptional plight, declared them to be illegal
immigrants. At the beginning of September, 1939, a
ship that reached the coast of Palestine, crowded with

154 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

the victims of the Nazi terror, was fired on by the coastal
police, and three refugees were killed. In March, 1940,
the Darien reached Palestine with 800 refugees, the
majority of whom, had escaped from the massacres In
Bucharest and other cities in Rumania, and carrying on
board the survivors of another refugee vessel, the
Salvador, which had sunk in the Sea of Marmora with the
loss of over 200 lives; but, on landing, all of them were
interned. In November, 1940, more than 1,770 Jews,
who had fled from Nazi-occupied lands, reached Haifa
in two vessels, the Pacific and the Milos, and, as they were
without permits, they, together with over 100 refugees
from another vessel, were transferred to the Patria for
the purpose of being deported to a British colony. The
official communique broadcast from Jerusalem stated:
"The ultimate disposal of the Immigrants would be
deferred for consideration until the end of the war, but
it is not proposed that they shall remain in the same
British colony where they are to be sent or to go to
Palestine/' The Patria, with 1,900 persons on board,
exploded in the harbour, and 257 refugees lost their lives,
yet the High Commissioner declared that the survivors
should be deported; but owing to public protests in
England and America, the order was rescinded and the
refugees allowed to remain in Palestine. About the same
time, the Atlantic brought 1,750 refugees, who, after being
allowed to land for internment, were deported to
Mauritius Island. 1

A year later there was a much worse calamity, which
deeply stirred what was still left of the civilised world.
In December, 1941, a small weather-beaten vessel, the
Struma, brought 769 Jewish refugees from the pogroms in
Rumania to the approaches of Istanbul and was unable
to proceed further. The Turkish authorities would not
allow them to land without an assurance that another
country would admit them, and the Jewish Agency tried
to obtain such an assurance from the Palestine Government

1 After being detained in Mauritius for over four and a half years, the refugees
(of whom 120 had meanwhile died, mostly because of the tropical climate) were
transferred to Palestine in August, 1945.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945 155

in vain. The Strum was then compelled to put to sea^
and broke up (on February 24th, 1942) with the loss
of all except one on board.

The exclusion of all these victims of persecution from
the land where their people had been told that they were
cc as of right and not on sufferance/ 3 was justified by the
Palestine Government on the ground that their admission
would constitute a violation of the White Paper of 1939,
although this document, which had never been sanc-
tioned by the League, provided for the entry of 25,000
refugees within five years, and despite the fact that many
hundreds of non-Jews (Poles, Greeks, and Yugoslavs)
were admitted, and rightly so, without question. It was
not until the beginning of 1945 that the refugees deported
to the Mauritius Island, many of whom had offered to
fight against the Germans and were thus released, were
at length informed that they would be taken to Palestine.

JEWISH OFFERS TO BRITISH GOVERNMENT

Even before the war began, and only a few days after
the Congress in Geneva was over, Dr. Weizmann wrote
a letter to the British Prime Minister, Mr. Neville
Chamberlain, in which he stated that, despite the
differences with the Mandatory Power, the Jewish
Agency readily offered the Government all the Jewish
manpower, technical ability, and resources at their
disposal in the coming struggle. The Prime Minister
courteously acknowledged the offer, but no steps were
taken by the Government to avail themselves of it. The
Executives of the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi,
however, anxious to give practical effect to their desire
to help in the conflict, organised a registration of volun-
teers in Palestine for national service during the period of
the emergency. The result of the registration was that
over 85,000 Jewish men and 50,000 women, between the
ages of 1 8 and 50, volunteered for national service, either
within the Jewish community or at the disposal of the
British military command in Palestine.

156 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

THE FIRST JEWISH VOLUNTEERS

The military authorities were at first slow in availing
themselves of Jewish co-operation. During the first year
of the war only a limited number of Jewish and Arab
volunteers were accepted for the service corps, and two
Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps were formed, in which
the Jews outnumbered the Arabs by about three to one.
The first batch of men of this corps distinguished them-
selves during the great battle in Flanders and North
France in 1940, took part in covering the retreat of the
second British Expeditionary Force from St. Malo, were
among the last to leave for England, and then par-
ticipated in the defence of the southern coast in the
Battle of Britain. When most of the ground personnel of
the Royal Air Force in Egypt had to be transferred in
the summer of 1940 to Britain, their places were filled by
1,500 Jewish qualified mechanics from Palestine. Not
until September, 1940, were the Jews given the oppor-
tunity of joining the combatant ranks. It was then
decided to form 14 military companies, seven Jewish and
seven Arab, the recruitment to be on a basis of strict
equality of numbers; but this principle had to be relaxed,
as Arab reluctance was a brake upon Jewish volunteer-
ing. The Executive of the Jewish Agency, together with
that of the Vaad Leumi and other organised sections of
the Tishuv^ opened recruiting offices and called upon all
able-bodied Jews to do their duty. There was a prompt
response, so much so that at times the military authorities
were unable to cope with the rush of Jewish volunteers.

OFFER OF JEWISH FIGHTING FORGE

While recruiting was going on in Palestine, Dr. Weiz-
mann was endeavouring to secure the assent of the
British Government to the raising of a Jewish Fighting
Force. It was intended that such a Force should officially

1 A collective term for tibe Jews in Palestine, meaning Eterally "settlement" or

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, I 39-1 945 1 57

represent the Jewish people (In addition to the Jews
fighting in the ranks of all the United Nations) in a war
that had first been launched against themselves, and
that they should have their own flag. Dr. Weizmann first
made his offer on December ist, 1939. In September,
1940, the Government agreed to the formation of a
Jewish Division in the West, consisting of Jewish volun-
teers from America and other free countries, including
a number of Palestinians. But six months later con-
sideration of the offer was postponed on the alleged
ground of the lack of equipment, and in August, 1941,
it was definitely declined on the alleged ground of new
technical difficulties. As any such difficulties could have
been overcome, it was generally understood that the
rejection was due mainly to political reasons in other
words, to the fear that a Jewish fighting force might
arouse the resentment of the Arabs. After many months
of continued agitation for a Jewish Force, conducted on
both sides of the Atlantic and supported in the British
Dominions, the Government, on August 7th, 1942,
announced their decision (i) to create a Palestine
Regiment consisting of separate Jewish and Arab
infantry battalions for general service in the Middle
East, (2) to expand the Palestine Volunteer Force (open
only to British and Palestinian subjects) to a maximum
of 2,000, and (3) to complete the establishment of the
Jewish Rural Special Police by the enrolment of 2,500
additional recruits, requisite training staff, officers, arms,
and equipment to be provided by the Commander-in-
Chief, Middle East.

Although there were twice as many Arabs as Jews in
the country, there were, at the end of August, 1944,
23,500 Palestinian Jewish volunteers (including 2,800
women in the A.T.S.), as against 8,000 Arabs, in various
units of the British defence forces. There were nearly
4,000 in the infantry and as many in the Royal Army
Service Corps, over 3,000 in the Pioneer Corps and
nearly that number in the Royal Engineers, over 2,100
in the R.A.F., 1,050 in the Royal Navy, over 600 in the

158 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Royal Artillery, and over 500 In the Port Operating
Company. The vast majority of these men and women
were serving in 60 Jewish units., which were originally
under the command of British officers and N.C.Os.,
but eventually there were 300 Jewish officers. In addition
to the Jews in the fighting ranks, about 6,000 Jews
served throughout the war in full-time home defence
formations as part of the Palestine Police, which was
proclaimed a military force in June, 1942, and 17,000
other Jews joined a part-time rural defence formation.

As the pay given to Palestinian Jewish soldiers was only
two-thirds of the British rate, and their wives and
children received allowances on the same scale, the
Jewish Agency, apart from taking political steps to
remedy the situation, set up a Welfare Committee to aid
soldiers' families and provide comforts for the troops.
Later, in conjunction with the Vaad Leumi y it created the
War Services Fund to assist soldiers' families, provide
comforts for soldiers and supernumerary police, par-
ticipate in the budget for security, and centralise the
financial aid of the Tishuv for refugees. It raised a few
million pounds, part of which was spent on the rescue
of Jews from Europe.

FORMATION OF JEWISH BRIGADE GROUP

The persistent advocacy of a Jewish Fighting Force, in
face of the apparent indifference in official quarters, at
last triumphed. Three years after the scheme had been
turned down, the British Government announced, on
September igth, 1944, that they had decided to form a
Jewish Brigade Group, based on the Jewish battalions of
the Palestine Regiment, to take part in active operations.
They stated that they had acceded to the request of the
Jewish Agency in coining to this decision, and that the
Jewish Agency had been invited to co-operate in the
realisation of the scheme. The Prime Minister (Mr.
Churchill), speaking in the House of Commons on
September 28th, said:

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945 159

"It seems to me indeed appropriate that a special Jewish unit,
a special unit of that race which has suffered indescribable torments
from the Nazis, should be represented as a distinct formation among
the forces gathered for their final overthrow, and I have no doubt
that they will not only take part in the struggle^ but also in the
occupation which will follow."

The announcement was received with considerable
gratification both in Palestine and among all sections of
the Jewish people. An impetus was given to recruiting in
Palestine, and many Jewish refugees in Great Britain and
other parts, including the Mauritius Island, rallied to
the Jewish flag, which was accorded official recognition.
Brigadier Ernest F. Benjamin was appointed as the
Commanding Officer of the Jewish Brigade Group.
Members of the Jewish Brigade had a blue- white-blue
shoulder flash, with the Shield of David in gold, accom-
panied by the designation "Jewish Brigade Group 5 ' and
the initials of the Hebrew equivalent (Hatwah Yehudith
Lohemeth}. The Brigade went into action on the Italian
front in the spring of 1945^ and fought until the German
surrender, without losing prisoners. It captured many
German prisoners, and 43 of its members were killed
and buried in the Bolzano Cemetery.

SERVICE ON ALL FRONTS

Among the factors that helped to overcome the official
opposition to a Jewish fighting unit was undoubtedly the
gallant conduct of the Jewish soldiers of Palestine, who
had already done service on all the fronts in the Near and
Middle East. They had fought from Libya to Tunisia, in
Abyssinia and Eritrea, in Greece, Syria, and Italy. Their
valour had evoked praise from all their Commanding
Officers, but unfortunately they had received no credit
for individual exploits in official announcements, which
always used the geographical term "Palestinian" with-
out any indication as to whether Jews or Arabs were
meant. With regard to the first campaigns in North
Africa, Field-Marshal Wavell stated that "they performed

l6o A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

fine work, pre-eminently at Sldi Barrani, Sollum, Fort
Capuzzo, Bardia, and Tobruk." In the fighting on
the Egyptian frontier in 1942, Palestinian Jewish units
of the Royal Engineers and of the Transport Companies
played an important part in carrying troops to the for-
ward battle areas, in the construction of fortified strong
points at El Alamein, and in the laying of minefields.
Magnificent work was done by Jewish drivers, upon
whose courage, promptness., and precision the supply of
vital material for the advanced troops depended. One
Jewish water-tank company performed an exemplary
service in carrying 500,000 gallons of water to the front
lines across the trackless wastes of the Western Desert,
day and night, for months without pause. The men were
sometimes under fire from enemy air and ground forces,
but they persevered without flinching.

The first Camouflage Company of the Eighth Army,
consisting mainly of Palestinian Jews, were mentioned in
despatches by Field-Marshal Montgomery and praised
by Mr. Churchill in a review of the Army's victorious
advance. Brigadier Frederick H. Kisch, C.B.E., D.S.O.,
Chief Engineer of the Eighth Army (a former Chairman
of the Jewish Agency Executive in Jerusalem) was killed
in the march towards Sousse, in Tunisia, in April, 1943.
In Eritrea the Palestinians distinguished themselves in
the battle for Keren. About 300 of them (three-fifths
Jews), thanks to their toughness and daring, were selected
for dangerous service in Abyssinia. They operated in
so-called "suicide squads/ 3 demolished enemy fortifica-
tions night after night, and brought back valuable
information.

FIGHTING IN GREECE AND SYRIA

In Greece there were many Palestinian Jews with the
[LA.F., the Royal Engineers, and the Pioneer Corps,
whose bravery earned the praise of Field-Marshal
Wavell and Air Marshal d'Albiac. Several hundreds
were with the last 7,000 R.A.F. men to leave Greece
altar sticcessMly covering the retreat in the final days of

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1 939-1 945 l6l

the evacuation, and afterwards many fought in Crete,
There were 1^444 Palestinians among the 10,000 British
troops missing in Greece and Crete, and of that total
1,023 were Jews and the rest Arabs. When the campaign
in Syria began, 50 young Jewish settlers with an intimate
knowledge of the district near its Palestinian frontier
were chosen to carry out preparatory reconnoitring and
accompany the Australian vanguard, to whom they
rendered valuable services as guides and behind the
enemy lines. The Palestinian contingent helped the
Allied forces in recapturing Kuneitra, the key position
on the main road from Safed to Damascus. One Jewish
group, which, under the command of a British officer^
undertook a particularly daring task, was completely
wiped out (The Times., March 4th, 1943). General Sir
Henry Maitland Wilson, who was in charge of the
expedition, afterwards stated that he "much appreciated
the assistance rendered by Jews in this campaign/'

SERVICES IN NAVY, TRANSPORT, AND PUBLIC WORKS

Considerable help was also given by Jews in the Navy 3
in transport service, and in connection with public
works. The youths trained at the various Jewish nautical
institutions at Tel Aviv and Haifa immediately volun-
teered for the motor-boat crews raised for the R.A.F.,
and served at war-time stations all over the Middle East.
Many Jewish skilled mechanics joined the British Navy,
and their ability and diligence earned them the apprecia-
tion of their Commanding Officers. At least 12 Palestine
Jews obtained Commissions in the Navy. The Tishuv had
its own small fleet, part of which, consisting of motor and
sailing boats, kept up coastal traffic between Palestine
and the neighbouring countries. A central freight trans-
port co-operative was forftied, comprising a fleet of 850
trucks; drivers from the transport co-operatives and the
settlements joined the various transport units; and a
special unit was formed of Jewish drivers with their own
vehicles. The construction of military camps, hospitals,

L

1 62 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

fortifications, and roads was greatly facilitated by the
existence of a large Jewish labour force, skilled in all
branches of building, together with the necessary staff of
engineers, technicians, and foremen. The fortification
works in the North of Palestine, which were necessary
before the British troops advanced into Syria, were
constructed by 8,000 to 10,000 Jewish workers employed
day and night.

JEWISH LOSSES

Over 500 Palestinian Jewish soldiers, serving in the
British armed forces either in uniform or on special
missions, lost their lives in the Second World War.
Thirty-six Jews from Palestine (including some girls),
who undertook intelligence and partisan missions in
Nazi occupied territory, were dropped by parachute into
Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, and Yugo-
slavia. Their task was to get into contact with Jewish
partisans, to organise intelligence, and to help in the
rescue of Jews and of escaping Allied prisoners of war.
Seven were murdered in the performance of their heroic
missions. A group of 23 Jewish volunteers under the
command of a British officer, were sent by motor-launch
to blow up the oil installations at Tripoli (Lebanon) in
1941, and all lost their lives. Between 1941 and 1945
forty-one Palestinian Jewish soldiers died or were
murdered as prisoners in Germany. All gave up their
lives in the belief that the victory of the Allies would
usher in a new and better era for the Land of Israel.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS

Important contributions were also made in various
branches of the economic field. Thanks to the efforts of
the Economic Council set up by the Jewish Agency, a
few million pounds were devoted to agricultural and
industrial developments, so as to increase the food pro-
duction of the country and expand industries useful for
war needs. Between the end of 1939 and 1945 the Jewish

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, I939~I945 163

National Fund acquired another 340,000 dunams, which
was put under cultivation; large-scale reclamation and
drainage work was carried out in the Haifa Bay, the
Beisan Valley, and the Huleh area; and wells were bored
and water supplies installed in several settlements in the
Haifa Bay district. Forty new agricultural settlements
were created and some old-established ones extended.
New cultures were introduced (soya beans, ground nuts,
Australian and Moroccan soft wheat) ; the irrigated area
covered by mixed farming was largely increased; sheep
breeding was expanded; and the output of dairy produce,
vegetables, and other agricultural products rose sub-
stantially. The Imperial and Allied Forces stationed in or
based on Palestine were supplied with a great deal of
their food requirements from the soil of the country,
and much of it was grown on Jewish farmsteads by
Jewish hands.

EXPANSION OF INDUSTRY

In the field of industry there was an even more im-
pressive picture. Of the 2,000 factories and workshops
owned by Jews, a large number were engaged in the
manufacture of war materials. Many were enlarged, and
over 400 new factories and workshops were built,
mainly by refugees from Germany and other Nazi-
oppressed countries, who brought with them not only
technical experience and knowledge of patent processes,
but also in many cases their own mechanical equipment.
The large number of metal, electrical, timber, textile,
leather, cement, and chemical works were mainly
devoted to war requirements. There were three spinning
mills working night and day on the manufacture of
cotton drill for military uniforms, a wool spinning mill
at Ramath Gan, and steel smelting works at Haifa.
Many factories were rapidly switched over from peace
time to war production. Moreover, a large food industry
furnished all kinds of supplies for the Army, and there
was a growing pharmaceutical industry. Palestine's
synthetic drugs, sera, and vaccines were also available

164 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

for the Army, while the provision of electric light and
power, and the supply of potash, bromine, and other
chemicals from the Dead Sea were invaluable. The
extent of the industrial advance from 1939 to 1945 was
shown by the increase of the value of production from
about 12,000,000 to 55,000,000; while the number
employed in industry rose from 19,000 to over 50,000.
The extent to which Industry worked for the war effort
was evidenced by the fact that in 1940 the total value of
military orders was 1,000,000, but in 1944 It had
increased to 40,000,000.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTIONS

The Jews of Palestine also made Important scientific
and technical contributions to the war effort. The
laboratories and scientific staff of the Hebrew University
and the Haifa Technical Institute were placed at the
disposal of the military authorities. At the University
special courses In parasitology and tropical medicine
were held for the medical officers of the British and
Australian Forces, and the Parasitology Department
provided sera for the prevention and cure of typhoid and
other tropical diseases. A new and more economical
technique for fighting typhus was perfected by a group
of Jewish scientists, mainly German refugees, and offered
to the British Government for use in the Middle East.
The University, In conjunction with the Hadassah
Hospital and Medical Centre, also arranged courses in
war surgery and camp sanitation for military physicians.
Its meteorological laboratory supplied the military
authorities with air data for weather reports, covering
the entire area between the Caucasian mountains and
Lower Egypt, and Its physiological laboratory produced
vitamins and hormones for local pharmaceutical firms
to satisfy the needs both of the civilian population and
the troops. The Technical Institute co-operated with the
Royal Engineers in the testing of building materials and
in discovering local substitutes for materials that could

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, I939~I945 165

not be imported during the war. Its electrical labora-
tories prepared and repaired instruments and motors for
the Army and Navy, as well as for industries supplying
war materials. The Daniel Sieff Research Institute at
Rehovoth, founded by Dr. Weizxnann, produced acetone
and butyl alcohol by fermentation,, both important war
chemicals. It also established a pharmaceutical factory
for the production of certain drugs, such as synthetic
anti-malarias and hypnotics, which were badly needed
owing to the lack of quinine, formerly obtained from the
Dutch East Indies.

REFUGEE IMMIGRANTS AND YOUTH ALIYAH

While the Tishuv was putting forth every effort in
furtherance of the Allied cause, its numbers were being
slowly increased by immigration, despite all the diffi-
culties and dangers of travel created by the spreading of
the war. New routes from Europe had to be devised and
traversed to circumvent the obstacles. Negotiations were
conducted by the Jewish Agency with the Governments
of Soviet Russia and Turkey for transit visas to enable
the refugees to pass through those countries. One
contingent of refugees aroused an unusual degree of
pathetic interest: it consisted of 800 children, mainly
from Germany and Poland, and many of them orphans,
whose toilsome journey had led from Russia to Teheran,
and thence, owing to Iraq's inhumane refusal to grant
transit, by the longest route through the Arabian and
Red Seas. These children were brought to Palestine
under the auspices of the Youth Aliyah Organisation,
which was formed in 1933 for the purpose of saving the
young from the Nazi terror. It was the joint creation of
a German Jewess, Recha Freier, and an American
Jewess, Henrietta Szold, both endowed with a notable
combination of humanitarianism, foresight, and courage.
Thanks to their persistent efforts, over 12,000* children
were delivered from Hitler's clutches and brought to

i The number transferred by the end of 1950 was over 46,000.

1 66 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

their ancestral land to receive loving care, education,
and occupational training. Some groups of Jewish
women and children, who had formerly lived in Palestine
were brought back from Europe in exchange for some
German subjects domiciled in Palestine; several hund-
reds of other Jews, who were not Palestinian citizens,
were also rescued from the Continent and brought to
their National Home.

THE WHITE PAPER RESTRICTIONS

The Jewish Agency was unremitting in its endeavours
to secure the departure of Jews, particularly of children,
from the Balkan countries, Hungary, Vichy France, and
the Iberian Peninsula; but, owing to the hostility of the
German Government and its grip over its satellites,
and the lack of co-operation on the part of the British
authorities, their efforts met with scant success. There
was a natural anxiety lest the quota of 75,000 immigrants
allowed by the White Paper might not be reached by
April, 1944, the date beyond which, according to that
document, there could be no further admission of Jews
unless the Arabs acquiesced. This anxiety was allayed
by the announcement made on November loth, 1943,
in the House of Commons, by the Colonial Secretary,
Colonel Oliver Stanley, that there were still 31,000 to
be admitted and there would be no time limit. Nearly
a year later, on October 5th, 1944, he informed the
Jewish Agency that permission had been given to use
10,300 immigration certificates remaining under the
White Paper for Jews coming from liberated or non-
enemy countries, to be distributed at the rate of 1,500
monthly. The Agency Executive urged that there should
be no monthly limit, but the request was refused. Despite
all the difficulties and obstacles, during the first five years
of the war about 50,000 Jewish refugees had succeeded
in reaching Palestine, most of them originating from
Europe.

Apart from the constant anxiety about the fate of their

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, I 939^1 45 1 67

Hnsfolk in the European inferno, the Tiskuv were not a
little perturbed about their own future. The White Paper
hovered over them like a spectre, and indications
accumulated that emphasised its menace. The author-
ities exercised a rigorous censorship, which was due not
to considerations for the country's security, but to their
resolve to stifle any discussion about future policy. On
March 23rd, 19435 t ' ie High Commissioner, Sir Harold
MacMichael, broadcast a speech on post-war recon-
struction in Palestine, which was based upon the
assumption that the White Paper was to prevail. His
address produced a feeling of profound disquiet among
the Jews, because it utterly ignored the vital part that
they, in common with Jews throughout the world, con-
sidered that the country should play in the post-war
settlement of the Jewish question. This uneasiness was
intensified a few months later by slanderous attacks
made upon them in the course of two trials at the Military
Court in Jerusalem.

MILITARY ARMS TRIALS

In the first trial, in August, 1943, two British soldiers,
with criminal records, were sentenced to fifteen years*
imprisonment each for smuggling arms and ammunition
into Palestine. The counsel for their defence, a British
officer, tried to extenuate their guilt by indulging in
sweeping accusations against the Jewish people, the
Yishuv, the Jewish Agency and its Chairman, and the
Jewish soldiers serving with the British Forces in the
Middle East. This tirade of defamation was even sur-
passed in the second trial, in which two Jews were
sentenced to seven and ten years' imprisonment respec-
tively on the charge of arms smuggling, and in which the
principal witnesses were the British soldiers convicted
in the first case. The prosecutor repeated the aspersions
made in the former trial, and included the Haganah and
Histadruth in his fantastic diatribe. He alleged the
existence of "a powerful, sinister organisation/' whose

1 68 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

aim was the possession of unlimited arms, and who
awaited cc the opportunity to sabotage the war effort.**
He said that the Jews in Palestine took no interest in the
war until the German forces had reached El Alamein
(October, 1942), and that the Jews in the British forces
were "a canker in the military organism in the Middle
East."

This astonishing tissue of falsehood and calumny was
denounced at a meeting of the Elected Assembly
(Asefath Hanivharim}^ at which the Chairman of the
Jewish Agency Executive, David Ben-Gurion, stig-
matised it as a political manoeuvre to discredit and even
provoke the Tishuv and thus ensure the enforcement of
the White Paper. He declared that the sentences on the
Jews, in the light of all the evidence available, were a
miscarriage of justice, and that far more publicity had
been officially organised for their trial than had been
given to previous trials in which Arabs had been
convicted of stealing arms. As for the Haganah, Ben-
Gurion declared that this Jewish self-defence organisa-
tion, the existence of which had been known to the
authorities for years, would continue to be maintained,
not for any aggression, but for the sole purpose of the
defence of the Tishuv, since they could not depend upon
any other power. 1

UNJUST SENTENCES AND PROVOCATION

The spirit of anti-Jewish hostility displayed in these
arms trials was vented further in the passing of a sentence
of seven years 3 imprisonment on a Palestinian Jew for
possessing two bullets, although he had a licence to
carry a revolver. This judgment was in glaring contrast
to sentences of a few months passed on two Arabs, each

Palestine Royal Commission stated (Report) p. 201): "If there is one
grievance which the Jews have undoubted right to prefer, it is the absence of
security." At a meeting of the Permanent Mandates Commission, on August and,
I937> tfce Colonial Secretary, Mr. Ormsby-Gore (now Lord Harlech), paid a
tribute to the self-restraint exercised by the Jews in the face of great aggression and
said: **We cannot deny, and we see no reason to deny, that the Jews themselves
have already organised . . . the Hagmah

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945 1 69

convicted of possessing a British rifle and many rounds
of ammunition. There soon followed a worse act of
provocation. On November i6th, 1943, British police,
together with Indian troops and personnel of the
British Provost, carried out a search of Ramath Hako-
vesh, a collective settlement in the Valley of Sharon.
The police wounded a settler, who died a few days later,
and arrested 35 others. The Government stated that the
search was the result of reports that "certain deserters
from the Polish Army were harboured at Ramath
Hakovesh, and that, at this settlement, there was a
training camp of a unit of an illegal organisation, and
that illegal arms were concealed there/' The only out-
come of the search, according to the vague official
statement, was that " certain military equipment was
found in a camp within the perimeter of the settlement/'
After Jewish mass meetings of protest were held, the
arrested settlers were released without any charge being
brought against them. Even stronger indignation was
aroused by the trial of seven settlers from Huldah in the
following month, before a military court in Jerusalem,
on the charge of the illegal possession of bombs and
cartridges. Their counsel pleaded that these arms were
solely for defence, as many of their comrades had been
killed in Arab disorders, and the Kvutzah had had to be
rebuilt three times. Nevertheless, the seven men were
sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from two to
seven years.

SURVIVAL OF APPEASEMENT POLICY

Thus, 26 years after the Jewish people had acclaimed
the Balfour Declaration as the Charter for the recon-
stitution of their National Home, those who had been
the most active in its establishment were harried and
traduced by official representatives of the Power respon-
sible for the fulfilment of the Declaration. It was a
situation utterly lacking in reason and justice, for the
Jews were the only people in the Near and Middle East
who had, from the very start, volunteered to fight in the

iyO A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

war for civilisation, and they were now besmirched and
subjected to discrimination to please the Arabs, who had
refrained from helping in the struggle, but wished to
benefit by its victory. It was the fruit of the policy of
appeasement, which might have been condoned in 1939
on the ground of expediency, but had no justification
whatever after five years of war and more. The Tishuv
refused to bow to that policy or to give up any of the
aspirations by which they had been upborne through all
the toil and turmoil of a quarter of a century. They were
resolved to face the future undaunted, hopeful that the
exasperations and humiliations to which they had been
exposed would pass like an evil dream, and that, when
all the bloodshed was over, and reason and justice
returned to their own, their cause would prevail.

CHAPTER XII

THE NATIONAL HOME IN PROGRESS

INCREASE OF JEWISH POPULATION

E civil administration of Palestine by the British
Mandatory, extending from July, 1920, to May,
19485 witnessed an extraordinary measure of all-round
progress in the Jewish National Home, although this
could have been much greater still if more abundant
funds had been available and the Government had not
put on the brake. The National Home had developed
physically and spiritually, and Jewish life in Palestine
had acquired all the multiple facets of a highly organised
community. The Jewish population at the end of the
Mandatory regime was estimated at 660,000, forming
about 32 per cent, of the total population. It was thus
over four times as large as in 1929, when it was 160,000,
and twelve times as large as at the end of 1918, when
it stood at 55,000. One-third of Palestinian Jewry was
concentrated in Tel-Aviv, which, with a population of
220,000, had grown at a phenomenal rate. It was the
only all-Jewish city in the world, with all its public
services from the magistracy and police to transport
and scavenging in the hands of Jews. About one-fourth
of the Yishuv lived in the rural areas. The increase of the
population, which had been at a rate unparalleled in any
other part of the world, had been primarily due to
immigration. Under the Mandate the number of Jews
who settled in Palestine was close upon 500,000. Owing
to the comparatively large influx in the years before the
war, building was very active in both town and country.
The number of Jews engaged in building and public
works in 1947 was about 18,000.

172 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

GROWTH OF JEWISH LAND POSSESSIONS

The progress of the Jewish National Home was notably
marked by an increase in the amount of land in Jewish
ownership, in the expansion of industrial and commercial
activity, and in the growth of the educational and health
services. The extent of land in Jewish possession, all
acquired by purchase, amounted in the spring of 1948
to 1,950,000 dunams, which was equivalent to 7*4 per
cent, of the total area of Western Palestine (26,323,000
dunams). Of this Jewish land about half was the property
of the Jewish National Fund, which, with the aid of the
Keren Hayesod, had effected great changes in the land-
scape, especially in the Valley of Jezreel, the Coastal
Plain, Galilee, and the Plain of Sharon.* The J.N.F. had
carried out considerable afforestation by planting 5
million trees in 67 localities, and thus transformed the
appearance of the hill-country in Judaea, Samaria, and
Galilee. The number of agricultural settlements estab-
lished on its land reached the total of 300, an advance
that was attended by an increase in productivity and a
reduction in the size of individual holdings. Before 1914
the average size of a Jewish holding was 240 dunams:
this was gradually diminished to 100 dunams, and then
eventually, in irrigated areas, to 20 dunams. In addition
to the three types of settlement already described (in
Chapter VIII), a fourth had also developed, the Moshav
Shitufi, a non-communal collective settlement based on
the family (unlike the kvutzah or kibbutz, based on the
individual), and in which wages were paid. 2

The most extensive development had taken place in
the growing of citrus fruit. Between the two wars the
area under orange cultivation increased from 30,000 to
300,000 dunams, of which 160,000 belonged to Jewish

1 The total area of Israel in January, 1950, was 20,662 sq. kilometres (compared
with 27,000 sq. kilometres, the total area of Palestine under the Mandate).

2 The influx of immigrants during 1948-50 gave rise to new forms of settlement,
including the Moshaa Qlim (immigrants' settlement), Kfar Awdah (Government
work village) and Maa&arah (temporary ixaming work camp), in all of which
iimnigrants axe gainfully employed. The total number of settlements of all kinds
at &e end of 1950 was 530,

THE NATIONAL HOME IN PROGRESS, 1 939-1 947 173

planters, who also introduced the growing of grape-fruit
and lemons. Citrus products once formed nearly 80 per
cent, of the country's exports, and about two-thirds of
the annual crop went to Great Britain, but the war
caused a reduction in the area cultivated. There was
also, before the war, a large increase of vegetable grow-
ing and dairy produce by Jewish farmers. The aggregate
sales of agricultural and dairy produce by the Jewish
Co-operative Society, "Tnuvah," rose from .210,000
in 1934 to ;*5 5 9i8,QOO in 1945-1946 a nearly thirty-fold
increase within twelve years.

PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

In the field of industry there were striking develop-
ments, thanks largely to the immigration of industrialists,
scientists, inventors, engineers, and trained craftsmen
from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, who
brought with them not only capital and technical skill,
but also, in many cases, patent processes and the
requisite plant. Among the industries introduced in
recent years are cinema films and iron safes, boats and
armoured cars, refrigerators and agricultural machinery,
glass and rubber, electrical, scientific and precision
instruments, steel and alloys, heavy and fine chemicals,
diamond polishing and zincography. The diamond-
polishing trade was created by refugees from Antwerp
and Amsterdam, and employed at one time over 4,000
workers. There were altogether 7,000 Jewish factories,
workshops and establishments engaged in handicrafts,
which employed over 65,000 persons and had an annual
output of 40,000,000. Industrial progress was greatly
furthered by the electric power-houses established by
Pinhas Rutenberg; the number of kw.h. units that they
supplied increased from 5^ millions in 1930 to over 280
millions in 1947.* Another industry of far-reaching
importance was the extraction of the mineral deposits
of the Dead Sea, originally conceived before the First

1 The number of kw.h units sold in 1949 was over 315 millions.

174 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

World War by another Russian Jewish engineer, Mr, M.
Novomeysky. There were two plants, one at each end of
the lake, capable of producing over 100,000 tons of
potash per annum. The Dead Sea was the only place
under British control that yielded this mineral salt,
besides other mineral products, and they occupied the
second place in the list of Palestine's exports.

Commerce, too, received a powerful impetus from the
Jewish resettlement. It was reflected in the establishment
of branches of most of the leading banks, shipping com-
panies and insurance companies of Europe and America;
in the busy traffic In the harbour of Haifa, which was
opened in 1933; and in the construction, five years later,
of the port of Tel- Aviv, due entirely to Jewish enterprise,
capital, and labour. The Tishuv took an ever-increasing
interest in maritime affairs* There were Jewish shipyards
at Tel-Aviv and Haifa, the Jewish youth were being
attracted to the sea as a career, and there were even
Jewish divers. The Jewish fishing industry was making
good progress, thanks partly to the fishermen who
migrated from Salonika. An outstanding feature of
Jewish economic life in Palestine consisted of the co-
operative movement, which included all trades and
embraced over one-third of the Jewish population. In
1946 the principal consumers* co-operative had a turn-
over of 4,325,000; the producers' and transport co-
operatives together had a capital of 1,600,000, and a
turnover of 53840,000; and the central society for
co-operative contracting, Solel Boneh, carried out works
to the value of 4,500,000.

ZIONIST FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

The principal financial instrument of the Jewish
Agency for the development of Palestine was the Keren
Hayesod (Foundation Fund), which, since its establish-
ment, had raised about 20,000,000 by voluntary con-
tributions from Jews in all parts of the world. The
budget of the Jewish Agency adopted just before the

THE NATIONAL HOME IN PROGRESS, I 39- 1 947 175

war was 720,000; for the year 1946-1947 It had risen to
15,500,000. The Income of the Jewish National Fund
since its creation was over i 5,000,000. The total
expenditure of all Zionist organisations and institutions
(including the K.H. and J.N.F.) in Palestine, from 1918
to 1948, was over 30,000,000. The Anglo-Palestine
Bank had an authorised capital of 1,000,000, of which
860,000 was paid up, and there were various other
banks (such as the General Mortgage Bank, Jewish
Agricultural Bank, and Jewish Workers 1 Bank), besides
commercial bodies participating in the work of recon-
struction (such as the Economic Board for Palestine,
the American Palestine Economic Corporation, and
others) . The total amount of Jewish capital brought
into the country from the beginning of the British
occupation could be moderately estimated at over
170,000,000.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS

Jewish life in Palestine had now acquired all the
multiple facets of a highly organised community. Apart
from the unparalleled progress in the main spheres of
economic activity, there had been ceaseless creative
effort in the intellectual and spiritual domains in the
fields of education and culture, of literature and journal-
ism, of music and drama, of science and art. And the
diversity of the national renaissance was reflected further
in manifold developments in social, political, and
religious life, as well as in the public health system and
sport.

The Tishuv had in the past quarter of a century de-
veloped an elaborate and efficient organisation for the
promotion of health. Its total expenditure on health
work in 1945 was 2,400,000, towards which the
Government gave a grant of 47,000. The Kupath Holim
(Sick Fund of the Jewish Labour Federation) had a
paying membership of 120,000 in 1946, when it had a
budget of 1,800,000, and had a total staff of 2,000

176 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

working In 323 centres (with over 800 beds in Its hos-
pitals and convalescent homes). 1

The outstanding achievement in the cultural sphere
was the revival of Hebrew as a living tongue. It was the
language of the school and the home, of the factory and
the bank, of the theatres and the Press, of public meet-
ings and the University. Its vocabulary was steadily
enriched under the expert direction of a "Language
Board/' so as to respond to all the latest needs of modern
civilisation.

The organised educational system under the control
of the Vaad Leumi comprised 760 schools with over
93,000 pupils and 4,000 teachers, and embraced 78 per
cent, of the Jewish school population (which numbered
119,000). It had 36 secondary schools, 8 teachers*
colleges, and 5 trade schools. 2 Agricultural training was
provided at special schools, some of them maintained
by the W.I.Z.O. and one by the Jewish Farmers*
Association* Technical training of an advanced character
was provided at the Haifa Technical Institute (com-
prising a College of Technology, a Technical High
School, and a Nautical School) . The crowning feature of
the educational system was the Hebrew University, a
great institution of research and learning, consisting not
only of faculties of humanities, mathematics, science, and
medicine, but also of Institutes of Jewish Studies and
Oriental Studies. Two important adjuncts of the
University were the Jewish National Library, which
contained over 400,000 volumes, and a Museum of
Archaeology. The university staff of 150 professors,
lecturers, and research assistants, included many distin-
guished scholars, whose work had previously enhanced
the repute of their respective countries, while they were
now able to render a specific Jewish contribution to

* At the end of 1950 the Kupath Holim had a membership of 600,000, a yearly
expenditure of 4,500,000, a staff of 4,200 (including 950 doctors), **> clinics,
and seven hospitals.

* The Hebrew educational system of Israel at the end of 1950 comprised 1,600
schools, 8,370 teachers, and 166,600 pupils. Besides the three trends described
on p. im there was a fourth that of the ultra-orthodox Agudath Israel. There
were also ninety Arab schools, with 500 teachers and 25,000 pupils.

THE NATIONAL HOME IN PROGRESS^ 1939-1947 177

human progress and likewise to advance the fame of
Jewish culture, 1 Jewish scholarship was fostered also by
the Bialik Foundation, which is devoted to the publica-
tion or support of literary and scientific works of national
and cultural importance, and by the Kook Institute,
founded in memory of a former Chief Rabbi of Palestine^
which publishes works of religious interest, both ancient
and modern.

LITERATURE AND THE ARTS

In no sphere of intellectual labour was there such an
abundance of creative activity as in that of literature,
where aH sort of writers novelists and poets, phil-
osophers, historians, and essayists were giving birth to
a variety of works of imagination, criticism^ and scholar-
ship. Palestine had become the most important and
prolific centre for the production of Hebrew letters at
the present day, and, for its size, it probably contained
more authors and journalists than any other national
community on earth. There were seven Hebrew dailies,
representing different political parties, 2 and a veritable
plethora of weekly, monthly, and other periodicals,
devoted to the interests of every religious section, political
group, and economic or professional association.

The creative spirit of the Jew had also found expres-
sion in art, drama, and music. Several painters from the
Diaspora had produced striking works marked by the
rich colouring of the Palestinian scene, which have been
exhibited in the leading galleries of many countries. The
two principal theatrical companies were "Habimah/ 3
which had already performed 70 plays, and the "Ohel"
Labour Theatre, which travelled all over the country;
and there were also a comedy theatre and an operatic
company. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra 3 founded
by Bronislaw Hubermann, and containing many brilliant

1 At the end of 1950 the Hebrew University had 2,000 students, an academic
staff of 290, and a yearly expenditure of 860,000.

2 At the end of 1950 there were seventeen daily papers in Israel, of which
eight morning and three evening papers appeared in Hebrew, and six morning
papers in Arabic, English, French, German (two), and Hungarian.

3 Now called the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

M

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

musicians driven from Europe by Hitler 3 was the finest
musical ensemble throughout the Near and Middle East*

POLITICAL PARTIES AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

The Tishuv was made up of elements from so many
different lands, and the successive waves of immigration
during the past 25 years had been characterised by such
contrasts, that it was as yet impossible to expect a
homogeneous national community. There was a multi-
plicity of political parties, a familiar feature of Jewish
communities in Eastern Europe, revealing the presence
of internal divisions in the Tishuv despite its common
fundamental basis. The parties were by no means
confined to those of the Zionist movement, for in muni-
cipal, local council, and Kehillah (religious community)
elections there were also candidates representing local
economic interests such as the Farmers' Association and
property owners. 1

Nor was there uniformity in the matter of religious
observance, any more than in the rest of Jewry. There
were gradations in regard to ritual conformity, but
Jewish tradition is held in general respect by all, and in
no other country in the world can Judaism be lived and
practised with a stricter fulfilment of Biblical commands
and Talmudic prescriptions. There was no lack of
synagogues in the cities or in most of the villages. The
important part played by the Mizrachi was a guarantee
of the observance of religious tradition in the institutions
and establishments dependent upon Jewish public
funds. The Sabbath and the Jewish festivals were
observed as days of rest in all centres of Jewish popula-
tion: all places of business were closed and traffic was
suspended. In no city in the world was there such a
general atmosphere of Sabbath repose and calm as in
Tel-Aviv. The Sabbath had received a new content in
the form of a weekly gathering initiated by the poet
Bialik, under the name of Oneg Shabbat ("Sabbath

1 For tlie poEtical patties in Israel, see p. 234.

THE NATIONAL HOME IN PROGRESS^ 1 939- 1 947 1 79

Pleasure 35 ) , at which popular speakers gave addresses on
subjects of historical or literary interest; and these
gatherings, at which readings were given from the
Hebrew classics and national songs were sung, have
become popular also in many other parts of the world.
The three "pilgrim 3 * festivals of Passover., Pentecost, and
Tabernacles, attracted large assemblies in Jerusalem.
Some festivals had taken on a new form of celebration^
based partly on ancient tradition, and acquired an
importance that they hardly enjoyed in the Diaspora*
Thus were the historic days of old given fresh life and
meaning in their ancient setting.

CHAPTER XIII

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION
1942-1947

THE SACRIFICES OF JEWRY

THE end of the Second World War found the Jewish
people In a tragic position. Six million Jews, forming
two-thirds of those in Europe and over one-third of all
the Jews In the world, had been exterminated in Hitler's
concentration camps and gas-chambers. It was a loss
that exceeded the total losses which the Jewish people
had suffered by massacre throughout the 1,900 years of
its dispersion, and one that both in respect of numbers
and the character of its human composition surpassed
the casualties of any of the United Nations. When news
of Hitler's diabolical plan reached the Western world in
the latter part of 1942, urgent and repeated appeals
were made to Britain and the United States by the free
Jewish communities, especially that of Palestine, to
rescue all who could still be saved. There is no doubt that
at that time scores of thousands of Jews in the Balkans,
if not in other countries, could have been saved and
brought to Palestine without affecting the fortunes of
war in the least degree. But the only response to the
appeals consisted of protestations of sympathy for the
persecuted and threats of punishment for the persecutors,
to be inflicted after the war. The Anglo-American
Conference held in Bermuda in the spring of 1943 to
devise a method of deliverance was fruitless, as the British
Government would not allow, the consideration of
Palestine as a possible asylum. Apart from the vast
holocaust which European Jewry had suffered, hundreds
of thousands of Jews, who, looking like skeletons after
six years or more of torture, emerged from the foul
camps, clamoured to be removed immediately and taken
mainly to Palestine. A large proportion of the Jews who

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 1942-1947 1 8 1

had escaped captivity in the camps and survived in
Central and Eastern Europe were also desperately
anxious to emigrate, owing to the atmosphere of race
hatred that they felt around them, and the great
majority likewise expressed a preference for the Jewish
National Home. Furthermore 3 the Jews in the lands of
North Africa and the Middle East had become exposed
to violence and persecution, and to them also Palestine
now appealed as the only possible refuge. Hence the
problem confronting the leaders of the Zionist movement
was much more formidable than they could have anti-
cipated, and it called for a solution on a comprehensive
scale.

THE BILTMORE PROGRAMME

At the end of the war British policy in Palestine was
still represented by the White Paper of 1939, that
iniquitous instrument of Arab appeasement, which
throttled immigration and paralysed economic develop-
ment. During the war the Prime Minister (Mr. Winston
Churchill) would not commit himself in support of that
document, which he had denounced so scathingly when
it was submitted to the House of Commons,, but it
nevertheless continued to inspire and dominate all the
activities and plans of the Palestine Administration,
despite the catastrophic aggravation of the Jewish
problem in Europe. The Executive of the Jewish Agency
therefore felt that it was necessary to formulate the
ultimate aims of the Zionist movement before the war
was over. A comprehensive solution of the Jewish pro-
blem demanded the transfer of a substantial proportion
of European Jewry to Palestine, and such an undertaking
involved a large-scale development of Palestine's re-
sources, which could be achieved only by endowing the
Jewish National Home with the independence of a
Jewish State. This view was first expounded publicly
by Dr. Weizmann in an article in an American political
review, 1 in which he wrote that the Jews in Palestine

1 "Palestine's Role in the Solution of the Jewish Problem/* Foreign Affairs (New
York), January, 1942.

1 82 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

should be cc able to achieve their freedom and self-
government by establishing a State of their own, and
ceasing to be a minority dependent on the will and
pleasure of other nations/ 5 This policy was given formal
endorsement and general publicity < at a Conference of
all Zionist parties and organisations in America held in
May, 1942, at the Biltmore Hotel, New York City, at
which a resolution was adopted demanding the opening
of Palestine to Jewish immigration to be controlled by
the Jewish Agency, in whom should be vested the
authority so to develop the country "that Palestine be
established as a Jewish Commonwealth, integrated in
the structure of the new democratic world." This
Biltmore Programme, as it was called, was confirmed
by the Inner Committee of the Zionist General Council
in the following November in Jerusalem.

Two years later, when the magnitude of the catas-
trophe of European Jewry was generally recognised, the
Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted a Memoran-
dum on October i6th, 1944, to the Mandatory Govern-
ment, appealing to it to inaugurate a new era by
drawing the logical conclusion from the Balfour Declara-
tion as originally conceived and deciding upon the
establishment in Palestine of a Jewish State. Dr. Weiz-
mann personally discussed the matter with the Prime
Minister, who replied that it would be dealt with at the
end of the war with Germany. Two weeks after war was
over, on May 22nd, 1945, Dr. Weizmann submitted to
the Prime Minister a further Memorandum requesting
"that an immediate decision be announced to establish
Palestine as a Jewish State. 53 Mr. ChurchilPs response
was that he saw no possibility of the Palestine question
"being effectively considered until the victorious Allies
are definitely seated at the Peace Table." Thereupon
Dr. Weizmann expressed his disappointment, replied
that he had always understood from his conversations
with Mr. Churchill that the Palestine problem would
be considered as soon as the German war was ended,
and stressed the effects of the continuance of the White

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 1942-1947 183

Paper policy upon the surviving remnants of European
Jewry and the Tishw. Soon after this exchange of
correspondence, the Coalition Government over which
Mr. Churchill had presided for five years was dissolved
and was succeeded by a Labour Government under
Mr. C. R. Attlee.

THE LABOUR PARTY'S SYMPATHY

The change of Government was welcomed throughout
the Zionist and, indeed, the Jewish world, as no political
party in Britain had such a record of continued and
enthusiastic support of Zionist aspirations since Decem-
ber, 1917 (when it first declared itself in favour of a
Jewish State) , as the Labour Party. Leading members
of the Party had strongly condemned the White Paper
when it was first discussed in the Commons in May,
1939, and on many subsequent occasions. Mr. Herbert
Morrison and Mr. Philip Noel-Baker had been par-
ticularly scathing in their condemnation. 1 At the Labour
Party Conference in London in December, 1944* Mr.
Attlee moved a resolution concerning Palestine, not only
demanding that Jews should enter "this tiny land in such
numbers as to become a majority/ 5 but suggesting far
more than the Jewish Agency had ever done that "the
Arabs be encouraged to move out as the Jews move in/ 5
and that "the possibility of extending the present ^Palest-
inian boundaries, by agreement with Egypt, Syria, and
Transjordan" be re-examined. On April 25th, 1945, this
policy was reaffirmed by the Executive Committee of
the Labour Party in a resolution requesting the Govern-
ment "to remove the present unjustifiable barriers on
immigration'*; and a month later Mr. Hugh Dalton,
speaking for the National Executive Committee, urged
that it was indispensable that steps be taken to secure
"a free, happy, and prosperous Jewish State in Palestine. 33

Zionist policy also enjoyed the sympathy and support
of the two great political parties in the United States.

i See p. 149.

184 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

On the eve of the American Presidential Election In
November, 1944.3 both the Democratic candidate,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Republican,
Governor Dewey, declared themselves in favour of the
establishment in Palestine of "a free and democratic
Jewish Commonwealth/ 5 and both promised that, if
elected, they would help to bring about its realisation.

THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT^ SOMERSAULT

It was, therefore, with a feeling of hopeful anticipation
that Zionist delegates from all parts of the world met in
London in August, 1945, for the first time since 1939,
and endorsed the resolutions adopted by the Inner
Zionist Council in 1942 and 1945 as well as the Mem-
orandum submitted to the Government on May 22nd,
1945. In conveying these resolutions to the Government,
the Executive of the Jewish Agency in London also
applied for 100,000 immigration certificates for Palestine
for the benefit of part of the remnant of European Jewry.
The Executive of the Agency in Jerusalem had, in the
preceding June, addressed a similar appeal to the High
Commissioner for 100,000 certificates, but received no
reply. The request of the Executive in London was
reinforced by a personal letter to the Prime Minister
from President Truman, who, after receiving a report
from his special envoy, Mr. Earl G. Harrison, on the
wretched position of the Jewish refugees and displaced
persons in Europe, urged the admission of 100,000 to
Palestine. Neither the request of the Jewish Agency nor
that of the President met with a favourable reply, nor
even the promise of sympathetic consideration. Without
vouchsafing the least glimmer of a reason for its brusque
change of policy, the British Government now embarked
upon a series of delaying manoeuvres, which lasted over
two years and were characterised by the transfer of the
Palestine question from the jurisdiction of the Colonial
Office to that of the Foreign Office.

On November I3th, 1945, Mr. Ernest Bevin, the

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 194^-1947 185

Foreign Secretary., informed the House of Commons
that the British and United States Governments had
agreed to appoint a Joint Committee of Enquiry to
investigate the problem of Palestine and European Jewry
and to propose recommendations for their solution. The
Government, he said, would consult the Arabs to ensure
that there was no Interruption of Jewish immigration,
which they had fixed at the monthly rate of 1,500; they
would, after considering the ad interim recommendations
of the Committee, "explore the possibility of devising
other temporary arrangements for dealing with the
Palestine problem"; and they would "prepare a per-
manent solution for submission to the United Nations
and, if possible, an agreed one." Mr. Bevin's statement,
in view of the distressing situation of the Jews on the
Continent, aroused widespread consternation among
the Jewish people, which was all the greater because he
did not offer the least explanation of the abandonment
by the Labour leaders of their reiterated pledges. Al-
though (and for obvious reasons) it was not publicly
admitted, it was learned later that the Government,
under the influence of their advisers, were actuated by
considerations of strategy against possible Soviet expan-
sion in the Middle East and also of the supply of oil in
that region 1 (which they feared might be withheld by
the Arab states).

THE WAR ON IMMIGRANTS

As the 75,000 immigration certificates allowed by the
White Paper were exhausted by December, 1945, t* 16
Government asked for the consent of the Arab states
and the Arab Higher Committee in Palestine to the grant
of further certificates for Jews. The Arab states had no
right to a say in the internal affairs of Palestine, but the
Government, having invited them to take part In the
Conference of 1939 in London, continued to regard

1 This was disclosed by Mr. Hartley Crum, an American member of the Anglo-
American Committee, in his book describing the course and background of the
enquiry, Behind the Silken Curtain.

1 86 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

them as entitled to be consulted. The Arab states agreed,
but the Arab Higher Committee refused. Thereupon., In
February, 1946, the Government informed the Jewish
Agency that 1,500 certificates a month for three months
would be at their disposal, a quota that was subse-
quently continued. Months before this step was taken,
however, the Government organised the most elaborate
measures against unauthorised entry into Palestine. An
army of 100,000 men, supported by aeroplanes and
destroyers, with the aid of radar stations, were employed
to prevent any Jewish survivors of Nazi barbarism who
were without certificates from slipping into their
National Home. Never was a more ignoble war fought
by a civilised Power against the hapless victims of
persecution. It aroused the strongest resentment among
the Tishuv, who considered themselves justified in doing
their utmost to help their kinsfolk who had reached the
coast of Palestine to evade the patrols. Hence there
were clashes with the troops, causing not only increased
bitterness, but bloodshed. Counter-measures were organ-
ised by the Irgun ^pai Leumi (National Military Organ-
isation) and another dissident body, the Stern Group, 1
who committed acts of violence against Government and
military buildings and personnel. This policy of terrorism
was severely repudiated and condemned by the Jewish
Agency and all other Jewish authorities, but all attempts
to suppress it were in vain.

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN ENQUIRY

The Anglo-American Committee, consisting of six
British and six American members, conducted their
enquiry from January to March, 1946. They heard
witnesses in Washington, London, Jerusalem, and other
cities in the Near East, besides visiting important Jewish
centres on the Continent, including some camps of

* The Irgun, an offshoot of the Revisionist Party, came into existence in 1936 as
an underground "army of liberation" to fight for Jewish independence in Palestine.
A small minority, with more extreme views, seceded in 1945 under the leadership
of Abraham Stern, who was killed by the poEce.

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 1942-1947 187

''displaced persons. 59 Their Report, which was unanim-
ous s appeared at the end of April. Its two outstanding
and positive recommendations were 3 first ? that 100,000
Certificates be authorised immediately for Jews who had
been victims of Nazi and Fascist persecution, that they
be issued as far as possible in 1946, and that actual
immigration be pushed forward as rapidly as possible;
and, secondly, that the Land Transfers Regulations be
rescinded and replaced by regulations based on a policy
of freedom in the sale, lease, or use of land, irrespective
of race, community, or creed. The Committee recom-
mended that Palestine should be neither a Jewish nor an
Arab State, that the government of the country should
be continued under the Mandate, pending the execution
of a trusteeship agreement under the United Nations,
and that meanwhile immigration should be regulated in
accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Man-
date. The Committee estimated that as many as 500,000
of the Jews in Europe "might wish or be impelled to
emigrate from Europe," and as, in their opinion, Pales-
tine alone could not absorb them all, they recommended
the British and American Governments to find new homes
for them.

A POLICY OF REPRESSION

Although Mr. Bevin had promised the Anglo-Ameri-
can Committee in London that, if their Report were
unanimous, he would do his best to carry it out, 1 the
Government immediately showed that they were unwil-
ling to do so. Mr. Attlee told the House of Commons that
they first wished to ascertain to what extent the United
States would be prepared to share the military and
financial responsibilities entailed by the execution of the
Report, and that the 100,000 certificates would not be
issued "unless and until the illegal armies maintained in
Palestine have been disbanded and their arms sur-
rendered/ 3 These evasive manoeuvres of the Govern-

1 Hartley G. Cram, Behind the Silken Curtain, p. 61. Richard Grossman, Palestine
Mission, p. 66, English edition; p. 57, American edition.

1 88 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

merit, accompanied by the continued enforcement of the
White Paper restrictions, interference with the personal
liberties of the Tishuv, deportation of Jews to East Africa.,
requisition of Jewish property, and frequent curfews,
provoked a feeling of rancour and revolt which found
vent in a renewal of outrages. Unable to track down the
terrorists, the Government and the military authorities,
on a Sabbath night, June 2gth, made a raid upon the
offices of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, seized huge
quantities of documents, and arrested four members of
the Executive and other Jewish leaders, who were
interned in a camp at Latrun for four months. Military
searches were carried out in many agricultural settle-
ments and Jewish institutions, thousands of Jews were
taken into custody, and hundreds were interned. By
way of counter-action, the Irgun ^vai Leumi on July soth
blew up part of the Government offices in the King
David Hotel in Jerusalem, causing the deaths of many
Jews, Arabs, and Britons. The outrage was vigorously
denounced by the Jewish Agency and all Jewish bodies
in Palestine, as well as by Zionist and other Jewish
organisations throughout the world.

THE MORRISON PLAN

The next step taken by the British Government was
to arrange a discussion between some of its officials and
some American officials in London on the technicalities
involved in a large transportation of immigrants to
Palestine. This was followed by a further discussion in
London between representatives of a special United
States Cabinet Committee and some British officials.
The outcome of all these deliberations was a cantonisa-
tion or "Provisional Autonomy 55 plan, which was out-
lined by Mr. Herbert Morrison, Lord President of the
Council, in the House of Commons on July 3ist, 1946.
This plan proposed the division of Palestine into four
areas -a Jewish province, an Arab province, the district
of Jerusalem, and the district of the Negev. The Jewish

THE MANDATE IN UQIJIDATION, 1942-1947 l8

province was to Include Eastern Galilee,, the Valley of
Jezreel, and the coastal plain from Haifa to Tel-Aviv;
the district of Jerusalem was to embrace the Holy City
and Bethlehem; and the Negev district was to extend
from Beersheba to Aqaba. The Arab province was to
include all the remainder of Palestine. The Jewish and
Arab provinces would each have an elected legislative
chamber, and from the members of these chambers the
High Commissioner would appoint two separate execu-
tives. Bills passed by either chamber would require the
assent of the High Commissioner. Immigration approved
by either chamber would need the authority of the
Central Government (under the High Commissioner),
provided it did not exceed the economic absorptive
capacity. As soon as it was decided to put into effect the
schemes as a whole, the transfer of 100,000 Jews into the
Jewish area could begin, and it was hoped to complete
the operation within twelve months. Mr. Morrison
announced that Jews and Arabs would be invited to
a conference to discuss the plan.

Meanwhile, despite all the measures taken by the
British Government, ships laden with uncertificated
Jews from Europe continued to reach the coast of
Palestine. The Government therefore announced on
August 1 3th, 1946, that all such immigrants would in
future not be admitted, but deported to Cyprus. From
that date the deportations were carried out by force, and
in some cases with serious casualties. To arrest the
movement of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe to
the ports where they boarded a vessel for Palestine, the
British Government actually requested the governments
of the countries through which they passed to refuse
them transit. But this intervention had little or no effect,
as the governments felt sympathetic towards the sorely
tried Jewish wanderers. Hence ships with "illegal"
immigrants, whose sailings the Haganah claimed to have
organised, continued to reach the National Home from
Southern Europe and occasionally from North Africa.

Upon receiving the British Government's invitation to

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

a conference^ the Executive of the Jewish Agency decided
to reject the Morrison plan, to insist upon the grant of
100,000 certificates, and not to take part in the con-
ference unless the Government were willing to discuss
a scheme for "the establishment of a viable Jewish State
in an adequate area of Palestine. 55 President Truman
informed Mr. Attlee that he approved of this decision.
The Conference convened by the Government was held
in the latter part of September, 1946, and was attended
only by delegates of the Arab States (Egypt, Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Transjordan, and the
Yemen) . Neither the Jewish Agency nor the Palestinian
Arabs were present. The Morrison plan was considered
by the Arab delegates and rejected, whereupon the
Conference was adjourned for some months.

THE TWENTY-SECOND CONGRESS

The question whether the Agency Executive should
attend the adjourned Conference was the principal
issue that occupied the Twenty-second Zionist Congress,
which was held at Basle from December gth to 24th,
1946. There were present 385 delegates (about one-fifth
from Palestine and one-third from the United States),
representing the record number of over 2,150,000
Shekel-payers. The Congress was divided on the main
issue into two groups, but not on party lines. The
opponents of participation consisted of part of the
General Zionists, Mizrachi, and Labour, as well as all
the Revisionists 1 and Ahduth Avodahf who demanded the
establishment of all Palestine as a Jewish State. Hashomer
Hatzair y the left-wing Labour Party, was also opposed to
attending the Conference, but for the reason that it was
in favour of a bi-national State. The advocates of

1 In 1946 the "New Zionist Organisation," which was founded in 1935, realised
that there was no further justification for its existence and therefore dissolved, its
members joining with the Jewish State Party to form the United Zionist Revision-
ists.

2 AMtvth Avodah was the name of the new party formed in 1944 by the secession
of the left wing of the Palestine Labour Party (Mapai). In Janury, 1948, Hashomer
matzmr and AMvfa Avodah combined to form the "United Workers' Party" (Mtf-
Ugetk Paatim Meuhadim, called by its initials, Mafiam) .

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 1942-1947

participation consisted mainly of other General Zionists
and the rest of Labour. After a week's debate the
Congress decided by 171 votes to 154 that "in the
existing circumstances the Zionist movement cannot
participate in the London Conference. If a change
should take place in the situation, the General Council
of the Zionist Organisation shall consider the matter and
decide whether to participate in the Conference or not.**
The Congress rejected the Morrison plan as a travesty
of Britain's obligations under the Mandate, and declared
that Jewish statehood was the only form in which the
original purpose of the Mandate could be fulfilled in the
event of its termination. It adopted a budget for the
ensuing year of 15,500 ,,000 an amount over twenty
times as large as the budget adopted in 1939. As the
majority of the delegates, by voting against participation
in the London Conference, had defeated the policy of
Dr. Weizmann, who had been President for over twenty
years, his name was not submitted for re-election, and
the position was left vacant. Nor, owing to the cleavage
of views, was the Congress able to elect a new Executive.
But a new General Council was elected with power to
choose the new Executive, and a few days later a
coalition Executive (reflecting the opposing views re-
garding the London Conference) was appointed, con-
sisting of eight General Zionists, seven members of the
Labour Party and four of the MizrachL 1

THE BEVIN PROPOSALS

The adjourned Palestine Conference, which met in
London on January 27th, 1947, was attended by repre-
sentatives of the Arab States as well as by the Palestinian
Arabs. But although the Executive of the Jewish Agency
held aloof, some members, headed by the Chairman,
Mr. Ben-Gurion, had conversations with the Foreign
Secretary, Mr. Bevin, and the Colonial Secretary, who

1 The new Executive included several members of the old (among them D. Ben-
Gurion, M. Shertok, B. Locker, Professor S. Brodetsky, and E. Kaplan) and four
American members (headed by Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver).

1 92 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

submitted to them the same new proposals that were
put before the Arab delegates. These proposals con-
stituted a retreat from the Morrison plan. They
envisaged a five-year trusteeship agreement, to be
approved by the Trusteeship Council of the United
Nations. The main features were: (a) certain areas (not
defined or contiguous) with Jewish or Arab majorities
would have local self-administration; (b) the High
Commissioner would remain responsible legislatively
and executively and have an Advisory Council of Jews
and Arabs; (c) Jewish immigration would be at the rate
of 4,000 a month for the first two years of the trusteeship,
after which the High Commissioner would consult his
Advisory Council on the subsequent rate of immigration,
and if he failed to secure agreement the question would
be referred to an arbitration committee of the United
Nations; (d) land transfers would be controlled in each
area by the local authorities; (e) at the end of four years
the High Commissioner would convene a constituent
assembly to discuss the constitution for an independent
State of Palestine, and if no agreement were reached the
matter would be remitted to the Trusteeship Council of
the United Nations to advise the British Government on
the course to adopt.

These proposals were rejected by both the Jewish
Agency and the Arab delegates. The latter demanded the
immediate declaration of the independence of Palestine,
the stoppage of immigration, and the protection of Arab
lands. The Jewish Agency found the proposals unaccept-
able on the three cardinal points: immigration, territory,
and the political future. There was no certainty that
there would be immigration after the first two years, and,
if there would be, at what rate; the Jews would be
confined within their present possessions, without a
proper margin for further development; and after five
years of Trusteeship, they would, subject to the approval
of the United Nations, be in an independent unitary
'State, in which they would find themselves a minority
by a considerable Arab majority. In

THE MANDATE IN LIQUIDATION, 1942-1947 I 3

consequence of the rejection of these proposals by Jews and
Arabs, Mr. Bevin, who in November, 1945, had declared
that he staked his reputation on solving the Palestine
problem, informed the House of Commons on February
1 8th, 1947, that the British Government had reached
the conclusion that the only course now open to them was
to submit the problem to the judgment of the United
Nations.

REFERENCE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Thus, after being in power for eighteen months, the
Labour Government had not only broken the pro-
Zionist pledges that Labour Party Conferences had
adopted for over twenty-five years, but also sabotaged
the unanimous recommendations of the Anglo-American
Committee, which the Foreign Secretary had promised
to carry out, and also witnessed the failure of its own
ill-conceived schemes for a solution. It was responsible
for a regime that had converted Palestine into a police
State, with its accompaniments of arrests and curfews,
of violence and bloodshed, in which the very Administra-
tion had to surround itself with armed guards, machine-
guns, and barbed wire to ensure its own safety. Con-
vinced at last of the futility of its efforts to devise an
acceptable policy based upon a systematic violation of
the Mandate, the British Government had no alternative
but to submit the question to the arbitrament of the
United Nations, the successor of the body from whose
hands Britain had received the Mandate over twenty-
five years before.

N

CHAPTER XIV

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED
NATIONS

1947

THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON PALESTINE

WHEN the General Assembly of the United Nations
met at Flushing Meadows, New York, on April
28th, 1947, for a special session to deal with the Palestine
question, the Political and Security Committee afforded
an opportunity to representatives of the Jewish Agency
and the Arab Higher Committee to state their cases. In
the course of the ensuing discussion a notable speech was
made by the Soviet delegate, Mr. Gromyko, who, after
observing that "the legitimate interests of both the
Jewish and Arab peoples in Palestine can be properly
protected only by the creation of an independent demo-
cratic Arab-Jewish State . . . based on equal rights for
the Jewish and Arab populations," stated that, failing
this solution, consideration should be given to "the
division of Palestine into two independent states Jewish
and Arab." It was decided that a Special Committee
on Palestine, 1 not including any representatives of the
"Big Five" or of the Arab states, should consist of the
following eleven neutral states: Australia, Canada,
Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Netherlands,
Peru, Sweden, Uruguay, and Yugoslavia.

The Special Committee, of which the Swedish dele-
gate. Judge Emil Sandstroem, was Chairman, was in
Jerusalem from June i6th to July 24th, and took state-
ments in secret from the Palestine Government and in
public from members of the Jewish Agency Executive,
Dr. Weizmann, and representatives of Jewish organisa-
tions. It was officially boycotted by the Arab Higher

1 The ILN. Committee became known as U.N.S.C.O.P.

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS^ 1947 1 95

Committee, but heard evidence in Beyrout on behalf
the Arab states. After completing its investigation in
Palestine, the Committee went to Geneva to draw up its
report, and a sub-committee was delegated to visit some
camps of Jewish "displaced persons" and refugees in
Germany and Austria.

A POLICY OF REPRESSION

Meanwhile, the state of tension in Palestine, due on the
one hand to the acts of violence of the Irgan %pai Leumi
and the Stern group, and, on the other, to the punitive
measures of the civil and military authorities, became
ever more intolerable. Government had in fact passed
from the High Commissioner to the General Officer
Commanding the British Forces, who had absolute
power to promulgate and enforce any decree, no matter
how it infringed the Mandate or any elementary rights
and liberties. The Tishuv was subjected to a system of
collective responsibility. Every outrage was followed by
mass arrests of Jews and house-searches, and those
arrested were liable to internment, imprisonment, or
deportation without trial In March, 1947, martial law
was imposed on Tel-Aviv and part of the Jewish section
of Jerusalem for a fortnight; and by that time hundreds
of Jews, merely on police information that was kept
secret, had been deported to Eritrea and Kenya. Pales-
tine was virtually reduced to a police State. The
Executive of the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi
refused to co-operate with the Government in combating
the terrorism, because the Government had abandoned
the principles of the Mandate, but they and the Haganah
acted independently in thwarting acts of violence
whenever possible.

The seething resentment of the Tishuv was intensified
when Dov Gruner and three other members of the
Irgan were hanged at Acre Gaol on April i6th, 1947,
although none of them had been charged with murder.
Gruner, who had fought as a volunteer in the British

ig6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Army for five years, had been sentenced to death for
taking part In an attack on Ramat Gan police station
(in which the only casualty could not be proved as
due to him), and the other three had been similarly
sentenced for being in possession of arms. As a reprisal,
members of the Irgun a few weeks later blasted open
Acre Gaol, from which many Jews and Arabs escaped.
Three members of the attacking party were caught
and sentenced to death. The United Nations Special
Committee attempted to intervene, but in vain. There-
upon the Irgun kidnapped two British soldiers at
Nathanyah as hostages for their comrades. The mili-
tary authorities, without taking sufficient time to find
the soldiers, hanged the three Irgunists rather pre-
cipitately, whereupon the Irgun carried out its threat
to hang the two soldiers. A wave of horrified revulsion
swept across the country and over many other lands too.
Jews in Tel-Aviv were suddenly attacked at night by
armed British policemen, who killed five and seriously
wounded many others. Three months later it was
officially announced that the British policemen who were
found to have taken part in this attack were discharged,
but they did not suffer any other punishment. There were
wanton assaults and lootings by British soldiers and police
in other parts of Palestine too (including Jerusalem and
Nathanyah).

THE "EXODUS, 1947"

The indignation caused by this succession of outrages
had no time to cool before it was further inflamed by
the action of the Government against the 4,500 Jewish
survivors from extermination camps who had been
brought to Palestine from a port on the south of France
on the "President Warfield", which was renamed "Exodus,
1947." Although all such ship-loads of Jews without
certificates had hitherto been transferred to Cyprus,
these immigrants were taken back on British ships
(specially equipped with wire pens) to the south of
France and requested to land, and, as they refused, they

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 197

were, after nearly a month, deported to Hamburg,
landed by force, and interned in camps. This prolonged
act of inhumanity, which held the attention of the whole
world, evoked not only the bitterest protests from its
immediate victims, the Tishuv and the Jewish people in
general, but also the most scathing censure from the
press in Britain, France, the United States, and many
other countries. The reason given by the British Govern-
ment for not transferring the "Exodus 51 refugees to
Cyprus was that there was no more room for them on the
island (where there were already over 12,000 in camps),
though their motive was probably to deter any further
contingents of "illegal 53 travellers. But their tactics
failed. Ships crowded with Jews without certificates
continued to reach the National Home, and as the
Government wished to avoid a repetition of the dis-
graceful episode the immigrants were again transferred
immediately to Cyprus. From the beginning of 1946
until October 3ist, 1947, thirty-six ships had conveyed
43,500 "illegal" immigrants to the shores of Palestine. 1

THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE^ RECOMMENDATIONS

The Report of the Special Committee, which was
published on August 3ist, comprised a series of unanim-
ous recommendations, a Majority Report recommending
the creation of a Jewish State and an Arab State, and a
Minority Report favouring an independent federal
State. The principal unanimous recommendations were
that the Mandate be terminated at the earliest possible
date, that Palestine be made independent on the basis
of economic unity and the principles of the United
Nations Charter, and that international arrangements
be carried out for dealing with the problem of distressed
European Jews, of whom about 250,000 were in camps.
The Committee agreed, with two dissenting voices, to

1 From May, 1945, until February, 1948, 57 ships tried to land uncertificated
immigrants, and of these 40 were intercepted. The total number of Jews brought
to Palestine from May, 1945, till the end of the mandate was believed to be about
67,000.

IQ8 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

C7

a further recommendation that "it should be accepted
as incontrovertible that any solution for Palestine cannot
be considered as a solution of the Jewish problem in
general/ 5 The Majority Report was supported by the
representatives of Canada, Czechoslovakia., Guatemala,
Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, and Uruguay. The Minority
Report was signed by the representatives of India, Iran,
and Yugoslavia. The Australian member did not vote
for either report*

THE MAJORITY REPORT

The Majority Report proposed that the Jewish and
Arab States should become independent after a tran-
sitional period of two years from September ist, 1947;
and that before their independence was recognised they
must adopt a democratic constitution acceptable to the
United Nations, and sign a treaty for the economic union
of Palestine. During the transitional period Britain
should (i) carry on the administration of Palestine under
the auspices of the United Nations, "and, if so desired,
with the assistance of one or more of the United Nations,"
(2) admit into the proposed Jewish State 150,000 Jews
at a uniform monthly rate, 30,000 of them on humanitar-
ian grounds, and (3) abolish the land transfer restrictions
based on the White Paper. The Jewish Agency should be
responsible for bringing the immigrants into the country,
and if the transitional period should continue for more
than two years Jewish immigration thereafter should be
allowed at the rate of 60,000 a year. The procedure was
prescribed for the creation on a democratic basis of a
provisional government in each State empowered to
make declarations and sign the treaty of economic
union, and after these acts were done by either State its
independence as a sovereign State would be recognised.
If only one State fulfilled these conditions the General
Assembly of the United Nations would take such action
as it might deem proper. For the purposes of the eco-
nomic union a joint Economic Board should be estab-
lished to consist of three representatives each of the two

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 199

States and three foreign members appointed by the
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

The proposed Jewish State should include Eastern
Galilee, the Esdraelon plain, most of the coastal plain
(from a point south of Acre to just north of Ashdod, and
including Haifa, Tel- Aviv, and Jaffa), and the whole of
the Beersheba sub-district, including the Negev. The
Arab state should include Western Galilee, the hill
country of Samaria and Judea, with the exclusion of the
city of Jerusalem, and the coastal plain from Ashdod to
the Egyptian frontier. The city of Jerusalem (including
the present municipality, the surrounding villages and
towns, together with Bethlehem) should be placed, after
the transitional period, under the international trustee-
ship system by an agreement designating the United
Nations as the administrative authority. Its governor,
who should be neither Jew nor Arab, nor a citizen of the
Palestine State, should be appointed by the Trusteeship
Council of the United Nations. The holy places and
religious buildings in the city should be under the
protection of a special police force, which should not
include either Jews or Arabs.

THE MINORITY REPORT

The Minority Report recommended the creation of an
independent Federal State of Palestine after a tran-
sitional period not exceeding three years, during which
responsibility for administering Palestine and preparing
it for independence should be entrusted to an authority
to be decided by the General Assembly. The independent
Federal State should comprise an Arab State and a
Jewish State, with Jerusalem as its capital. During the
transitional period a constituent assembly, to be elected
by popular vote and convened by the administering
authority, should draw up the constitution of the Federal
State, and once the constitution was adopted independ-
ence should be declared by the General Assembly. The
Federal Government should have full authority with

2OO A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

regard to national defence, foreign relations, immigra-
tion, currency, taxation for federal purposes, and other
matters, and the Arab and Jewish States should enjoy
full powers of local self-government. The constitution
should forbid any discriminating Federal or State
legislation against population groups or against either of
the States, guarantee equal rights for all minorities,
and provide for a single Palestine nationality and
citizenship. The protection of the holy places should be
under the supervision of a permanent international body
composed of three representatives designated by the
United Nations and one representative each of the
recognised faiths having an interest in the matter, as
may be determined by United Nations.

With regard to immigration, the Minority Report
proposed that "for a period of three years from the
beginning of the transitional period Jewish immigration
shall be permitted into the Jewish State in such numbers
as not to exceed the absorptive capacity and having
regard for the rights of the existing population within
the State and their anticipated natural rate of increase. 35
An international commission composed of three Arabs,
three Jews, and three United Nations representatives
should be appointed to estimate the absorptive capacity
of the Jewish State. The commission should cease to
exist at the end of the aforementioned period of three
years, but no proposal was made regarding immigration
in subsequent years. The Arab area of the proposed
Federal State should include most of the interior of the
country, except for Eastern Galilee and a large area of
the Beersheba sub-district which fell within the bound-
aries of the Jewish area. The Arabs were also allotted the
coastal plain from Jaffa south to the Egyptian frontier
and the western portion of the Beersheba sub-district,
including Beersheba town, Asltij and Auja, and a strip
along the whole length of the Egyptian frontier to the
Gulf of Aqaba.

The recommendation of the majority of the United
Nations Special Committee in favour of the creation of

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, I 47 2OI

a sovereign Jewish State was the second such proposal
made within ten years by an authoritative body ap-
pointed specially to solve the Palestine question., the
first having been made in 1937 by the Palestine Royal
Commission. This time the recommendation was of
much greater weight and significance, for it formed the
considered judgment not of the representatives of one
interested Government but of an international body
comprising the representatives of seven neutral and
disinterested Governments on both sides of the Atlantic,
uninfluenced by considerations of strategy and oil
supplies. The Majority Report was welcomed with
satisfaction by the Zionist General Council, which was
in session in Zurich at the time of its publication. Both
majority and minority Reports were rejected by the
Arab Higher Committee.

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S VIEWS

The views of the British Government on the Report
of the Special Committee were explained by the Colonial
Secretary, Mr. A. Creech Jones, on September 2 6th to
the United Nations ad hoc Committee on Palestine at
Lake Success, New York. He said that the Government
were in substantial agreement with the twelve general
recommendations, particularly the termination of the
Mandate for Palestine and the granting of independence
to the country at the earliest possible date, and the carry-
ing out of an international arrangement to deal with the
problem of distressed European Jews as a matter of
extreme urgency. As for the future of Palestine, the
Government were ready to co-operate with the General
Assembly in applying the settlement that it recom-
mended, but the crucial question was its enforcement.
The Government were prepared to assume responsibility
for giving effect to any plan on which the Arabs and the
Jews were agreed. But if the Assembly recommended a
policy that was not acceptable to the Jews and Arabs,
his Government would not feel able to implement it:

2O2 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

in this case It would be necessary to provide for some
alternative authority to implement it. The Government
were not themselves prepared to employ the force of
arms in imposing a policy in Palestine; and in consider-
ing any proposal that they should participate with others
in the enforcement of the settlement, "they must take
into account both the inherent justice of the settlement
and the extent to which force would be required to give
effect to it. 3 * Mr. Creech Jones emphasised that his
Government were determined to lay down the Mandate,
and in the absence of a settlement they must plan for
the early withdrawal of the British forces and British
administration from Palestine. He expressed no views
on either the Majority or the Minority Report, and
made no proposal for a settlement himself.

THE ARAB VIEW

The Arab representative, Jamal Husseini, declared
that an Arab state in the whole of Palestine was the only
project with which the Arab Committee were prepared
to associate themselves. As for the two schemes proposed,
the Arabs of Palestine would oppose by all means at their
disposal any partition of the country, or special rights
of status for any minority on the ground of creed. They
would not be deterred by the big Powers from drenching
the soil of the country with their blood in its defence.
Husseini proposed that a Constituent Assembly for a
democratic Arab state be elected at the earliest possible
moment, and that in accordance with the constitution
thus prepared the Arab Government should within a
fixed time take over the administration of the country.

THE JEWISH AGENCY'S VIEW

Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chairman of the
American section of the Jewish Agency Executive,
announced the Agency's acceptance in principle of the
partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states bound

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 2O3

in an economic union. He represented the scheme as a
serious attenuation of Jewish rights, as they were being
given one-eighth of the territory (all Palestine and
Transjordan) which had been originally set out for the
Jewish state. They were prepared to pay the price,
because it made possible the immediate re-establishment
of a Jewish state and ensured immediate and continuing
Jewish immigration. But they objected particularly to
the exclusion of Western Galilee from the Jewish State
and to placing a new Jewish city outside the walls of
Jerusalem under international trusteeship, and insisted
that the proposed economic unity must not encroach
upon exclusive control by the Jews of the means to carry
out large scale immigration and economic developments.
They favoured an international authority under the
United Nations to ensure the implementation of the
United Nations 3 decisions, and wished the establishment
of the two States to be consummated as soon as possible.
Should British forces not be available for the require-
ments during the interim period, the Jewish people of
Palestine would provide the necessary effectives to
maintain public security. The Jewish Agency accepted
all the unanimous recommendations of the majority
except one that which asserted that a solution for
Palestine is not a solution for the Jewish problem in
general. For this problem was not one of Jewish immi-
gration or refugees, but the age-old problem of Jewish
national homelessness, to which there was but one
solution the reconstitution of a national home for the
Jewish people in Palestine.

AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN VIEWS

In the course of the discussion the United States
delegate, Mr. Herschel Johnson, supported the unanim-
ous recommendations of the Special Committee and the
majority proposals for partition and immigration. He
stipulated, however, that Jaffa should be included in
the Arab state; that all the inhabitants of Palestine,

2>4 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

regardless of citizenship or place of residence, should be
guaranteed access to ports, water and power facilities,
and enjoy equality of economic opportunity; and that
the powers of the joint Economic Board be strengthened.
He also said that the United States was willing to help
in the establishment of a workable political settlement
in Palestine, in respect of economic and financial
problems, as well as the problem of internal law and
order during the transition period; and suggested the
creation of a special constabulary or police force re-
cruited on a volunteer basis by the United Nations.
Mr. Johnson's statement had been awaited with much
impatience, as it was understood that it would have a
determining influence on the fate of the partition scheme.

Little less than a sensation was caused when the Soviet
delegate, M. Tsarapkin, strongly endorsed America's
advocacy of partition, as this was the first question of
major importance upon which the two great Powers
were agreed. M. Tsarapkin said that neither historical
nor legal considerations could be decisive, but only the
right of the Palestine Jews as well as of the Arabs to
self-determination. In the light of the sufferings of Jewry
at Hitler's hands and the inability of the western States
to protect them, he contended that the Jews' right to
create their own State had to be conceded and was a
matter of urgency. He also thought it was necessary to
revise the proposed boundaries, and to work out the
details for the interim government between the ending
of the Mandate and the beginning of independence.

Partition was also supported by the delegates of
Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Dominions of Canada,
South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, as well as
some Latin American States, notably Uruguay, Guate-
mala, and Panama. Among the opponents, who urged
that Palestine be made a unitary Arab State, were India
and Pakistan, besides the delegates of the various Arab
States. The head of the British delegation, Mr. Creech
Jones, made another speech, reiterating the main points
in his first speech: he again declared that if the British

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947

were to take part in enforcing a settlement, they must
take Into account its inherent justice and the extent to
which force would be required.

The Jewish case was supported by Mr. Moshe Shertok^ 1
who dealt largely with the historical^ legal ? and eco-
nomic aspects of the problem, and finally by Dr. Weiz-
mann ? who, though no longer holding office in the
Zionist movement, possessed the unique authority of one
who had been its leader for nearly thirty years. In a
statesmanlike speech, Dr. Weizmarm stated that the
Jews who, on the basis of an international promise, had
gone to Palestine to re-establish their National Home,
could not be reduced to the status of "Arab citizens of
the Jewish persuasion," subject to the domination of the
Arab Higher Committee, and that they were entitled to
their independence just as much as the Arabs, who had
several states. He said that the great services that Britain
had rendered in helping to lay the foundations of Jewish
independence would be remembered with appreciation
when the sordid consequences of the White Paper had
passed into forgotten history.

DISCUSSION IN SUB-COMMITTEES

When the debate in the ad hoc Committee came to an
end after three weeks, the Soviet representative proposed
that a vote should be taken on the question of partition,
but the proposal was not accepted. Thereupon three
Sub-Committees were appointed on October sist:
Sub-Committee I, to consider the frontiers of the pro-
posed States and the implementation of partition; Sub-
Committee II, to deal with the Arab proposal for a
unitary State and the question whether the United
Nations was legally competent to decide on partition;
and Sub-Committee III, to seek an agreement between
the Jews and the Arabs. 2 The proceedings of the first

1 Mr. Shertok changed his name later to Sharett,

2 The members of Sub-Committee I were the United States, Russia, Canada,
Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, Poland, South Africa, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The members of Sub-Committee II were Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon,
Pakistan, Saudi-Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Sub-Committee III, owing to the
hopelessness of its purpose, failed to materialise.

206 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

two Sub-Committees, which lasted nearly a month,
were held for the most part in camera. The British
Government delegation refused to serve on either, but
had observers Mr. John Martin, of the Colonial Office,
at the first, and Mr. Harold Beeley, of the Foreign
Office, at the second. Mr. Shertok, Dr. Emanuel
Neumann and other representatives of the Jewish Agency
were permitted to take active part in all the meetings of
Sub-Committee I, at which they made proposals for the
revision of the boundaries suggested in the Majority
Report and also concerning the conditions of the
economic union.

After this Sub-Committee had been at work for three
weeks and proposed that the Mandate should be ter-
minated on May ist, 1948, Sir Alexander Cadogan,
Britain's permanent delegate on the Security Council,
informed it on November I3th that the British Military
authorities had been directed to plan for the evacuation
of Palestine to be completed by August ist, 1948, but
that (as previously announced by Mr. Creech Jones)
they would not be available for the enforcement of
settlement against either Jews or Arabs. The British
Government, he said, reserved the right to lay down the
Mandate and to bring its civil administration to an end
at any time after it had become evident that no settle-
ment acceptable to both Jews and Arabs had been
reached by the Assembly. During the interval between
the termination of the Mandate and the withdrawal of
the last British troops the British Government would not
hold a civil administration in Palestine, but confine itself
to preserving order in areas still controlled by the
remaining forces. If the United Nations Commission
despatched to Palestine to implement partition took
preparatory steps that would require enforcement, Sir
Alexander declared that it must not expect the British
authorities to maintain law and order except in the
limited areas of which they would be in occupation
during withdrawal. Throughout the discussions of the
committees, as in those of the General Assembly, the

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 2OJ

attitude of the British Government representatives was,
to the very end, consistent in its neutrality and unhelp-
fulness; it was quite unlike the attitude of the British
Dominion representatives, as well as that of certain
South American and European states, which co-operated
actively with constructive suggestions.

THE PARTITION PLAN

The partition plan, as unanimously adopted by Sub-
Committee I, consisted of the following main provisions:

The Mandate for Palestine shall terminate at a date
to be agreed on by the proposed United Nations'
Palestine Commission and Britain, with the approval
of the Security Council, but in any case not later than
August ist, 1948.

The armed forces of the Mandatory Power shall be
progressively withdrawn from Palestine, withdrawal
to be completed on a date to be agreed upon by the
Commission and the Mandatory Power, with the
approval of the Security Council, but not later than
August ist, 1948, The Mandatory Power shall advise
the Commission as far in advance as possible of its
intention to evacuate each area and co-ordinate its
plans with those of the Commission. The Mandatory-
Power is to use its best endeavours to ensure that an
area in the territory of the Jewish State, including a
seaport and hinterland adequate to provide for
substantial immigration, is evacuated not later than
February ist, 1948.

On its arrival in Palestine the Commission shaU
proceed to carry out measures for the establishment
of the frontiers of the Arab and Jewish States and the
City of Jerusalem in accordance with the general
lines of the recommendations of the General Assembly
on the partition of Palestine.

Two months after the evacuation of its British
armed forces, but not later than October ist, 1948,
the independent Arab and Jewish states and the

203 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

special international regime for the City of Jerusalem
are to come into existence.

During the transitional period between adoption of
the plan by the General Assembly and the establish-
ment of the two States, administration of Palestine
shall be entrusted to the Commission, which should
act in conformity with the recommendations of the
General Assembly under the guidance of the Security
Council. The Commission shall have authority to issue
the necessary regulations and take other measures as
required. The Mandatory Power shall not issue any
regulation to prevent, obstruct, or delay implementa-
tion by the Commission of the measures recommended
by the General Assembly.

The Commission, after consultation with democratic
parties and other public organisations in the Arab and
Jewish States, shall select and establish in each State
a Provisional Council of Government. The activities
of both Arab and Jewish Provisional Councils shall be
carried out under the general direction of the Com-
mission. If by April ist, 1948, Councils cannot be
selected for both States, or if those selected cannot
carry out their functions, the Commission shall com-
municate this to the Security Council for such action
as they may deem proper, and to the Secretary General
for communication to United Nations 3 members.

The Provisional Councils shall have full authority
during the transitional period in the areas under their
control, including authority over matters of immigra-
tion and land regulation.

The Provisional Councils shall proceed, under the
Commission's supervision, to establish administrative
organs of government, central and local. They shall
within the shortest time possible recruit armed militia
from the residents of their State sufficient in number
to maintain internal order and to prevent frontier
clashes.

The Provisional Councils shall, not later than two
months after the British troops' withdrawal, hold

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATJONS 5 1947 2O

elections to a Constituent Assembly which shall be
conducted on democratic lines. Qualified voters shall
be over 18 years Palestinian citizens residing in the
State or Arabs and Jews residing in the State, though
not Palestinians, who before voting signified their
intention of becoming citizens. Arabs and Jews
residing in Jerusalem who have signified their inten-
tion of becoming citizens of either State shall be
entitled to vote. Women are eligible to vote and may
be elected to the Constituent Assembly.

A democratic Constitution for each State is expected
to include provision for a legislature, elected by
universal secret ballot on a basis of proportional
representation, and an executive body responsible to
the legislature; acceptance of the obligation to refrain
from threat or use of force; a guarantee of equal and
non-discriminatory rights to all, and preservation of
freedom of transit for all residents of both States
subject to considerations of national security.

Jerusalem, which is to be outside the Jewish and
Arab States, is to have a special status. The city is to
be placed under the Trusteeship Council. Hebrew and
Arabic are to be the official languages, with one or
two other (English and French) as additional working
languages, as may be required. All Jerusalem residents
shall be citizens of the city unless they decide to take
citizenship of the State of which they have been
citizens or file their intention of becoming citizens of
the Arab or Jewish State respectively.

The Governor of Jerusalem shall not be a citizen
either of the Jewish or the Arab State, but shall repre-
sent the United Nations and exercise on its behalf all
administrative powers and conduct external affairs.
He shall be assisted by a staff chosen from residents
of the city and the rest of Palestine on a non-dis-
criminatory basis. He shall study a plan for the separa-
tion of the Jewish outer quarters of Jerusalem from
the rest of the city and for the establishment of
a special town unit for them. He shall appoint a

2IO A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

representative of the Jewish and Arab States to look
after the interests of their States and nationals. This
trusteeship regime shall last for ten years, but may be
reviewed and revised before the end of that period.' *

The most important frontier changes made in Sub-
Committee I were the addition to the Jewish State
of small tracts in Western Galilee and along the shores
of the Dead Sea and of Haifa Bay, besides the Lydda
air-port, and the transfer to the Arab State of Jaffa,
Beersheba, and 2 million dunams (half a million acres)
of the Negev along the Egyptian frontier. The area of
the Jewish State comprised 14 million dunams, contain-
ing a population of 538,000 Jews and 402,000 Arabs
(including nomads) ; and the area of the Arab State
comprised 12 million dunams, with a population of
804,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews, The population of the
Jerusalem district would consist of 108,000 Jews and
105,000 Arabs.

THE QUESTION OF IMPLEMENTATION

When the partition scheme, thus modified, was
brought back to the ad hoc Committee for consideration.
Sir Alexander Cadogan, on November soth, sprang a
surprise by making an announcement, the purport of
which was that the British Government did not agree
with the mode of implementation that had been worked
out after weeks of discussion. Britain could not allow any
other authority to assist in the administration of the
country as long as she held the Mandate, and reserved
the right to relinquish this at any time in the near future
without notifying the Security Council. She refused to
co-operate with the United Nations Commission, was
opposed to giving up control gradually during the
transitional period, could not accept recommendations
for the progressive transfer of power to the Provisional
Government Councils, and would not permit any
activities within zones under Mandatory control that

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 211

might "provoke disorder." Sir Alexander added that the
British Government were equally opposed to giving
any help to implement the Arab plan. This concluding
observation was obviously Intended to demonstrate
Britain's strict impartiality, but it must have been
patent to all that It was quite gratuitous^ as It was clear
that the Arab plan would be rejected. Sir Alexander
further explained that the administration of the country
would be handed over to the Commission only after the
Mandate had been laid down. The representatives of
the United States and the Soviet Union gave frank
expression to their annoyance over Britain's obstruc-
tionist attitude, and the Sub-Committee was obliged
to amend the paragraph relating to implementation.
The revised text ran:

"The General Assembly . . .

"Recommends to the United Kingdom, as the Mandatory Power
for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the
adoption and implementation, with regard to the future government
of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union set out
below;

"Requests that

"The Security Council take the necessary measures as provided
for in the Plan for its implementation;

"The Security Council consider, if circumstances during the
transitional period require such consideration, whether the situation
in Palestine constitutes a threat to the peace. If it decides that such
a threat exists, and in order to maintain international peace and
security, the Security Council should supplement the authorisation
of the General Assembly by taking measures, under Articles 39 and
41 of the Charter, to empower the United Nations Commission,
as provided in this resolution, to exercise in Palestine the functions
which are assigned to it by this resolution;

"The Security Council determine as a threat to the peace, breach
of the peace or act of aggression, in accordance with Article 39 of
the Charter, any attempt to alter by force the settlement envisaged
by this resolution;

"The Trusteeship Council be informed of the responsibilities
envisaged for it in this Plan;

"Calls upon the inhabitants of Palestine to take such steps as may
be necessary on their part to put this Plan into effect;

"Appeals to all Governments and all peoples to refrain from taking

212 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

any action which might hamper or delay the carrying out of these
recommendations; and

"Authorises the Secretary-General to reimburse travel and sub-
sistence expenses of the members of the Commission, . . . and to
provide to the Commission the necessary staff to assist in carrying
out the functions assigned to the Commission by the General
Assembly. 95

PARTITION APPROVED IN COMMITTEE

On November 24th the ad hoc Committee voted first
on the proposals adopted in Sub-Committee II. The
proposals that the whole matter should be referred to
the International Court of Justice and, alternatively,
that the legal aspect of partition should be referred to
that tribunal, were rejected. A proposal that a special
committee of the General Assembly should recommend
a scheme of quotas for the resettlement of Jewish
refugees and displaced persons in other countries, in
consultation with the International Refugee Organisa-
tion, was also rejected. Next came the resolution in
favour of a scheme for a unitary State (based on the
Minority Report) . It did not guarantee the Jews any
rights, nor even proportional representation in the
legislative council, and it urged that until an independ-
ent Palestine was established, immigration into the
country should be suspended and the existing land
transfer restrictions should be maintained. The Egyptian
delegate, in urging its acceptance, said that all but the
55,000 Jews who were in Palestine before the Balfour
Declaration, had entered the country illegally, and
uttered a warning that the adoption of partition would
"imperil the lives of a million defenceless Jews 3 9 in Arab
countries. Despite this threat the resolution in favour of
a unitary State was defeated by 29 votes to 12, with 16
abstaining. On the following day the partition scheme
as unanimously approved by Sub-Committee I was
adopted by 25 votes to 13, with 17 abstaining and 2
absent. The majority was sufficient in the ad hoc Com-
mittee, but in the General Assembly a two-thirds
majority of those present and voting was required.

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 213

On November 26th, nine weeks after the General
Assembly had appointed the ad hoc Committee, It met
again to consider the report of the Committee in favour
of partition. In an atmosphere of increased tension there
was a spate of speeches from both sides. The American
representative (Herschel Johnson) declared that the
resolution on partition was within the legal competence
of the General Assembly. The Egyptian delegate stated
that his country would not recognise the validity of
partition, and he and the Syrian and Lebanese spokes-
men attacked the United States. The Soviet delegate
(Mr. Gromyko) said that circumstances had proved that
the Jewish and the Arab peoples, each with deep roots
in Palestine, could not live in a unitary State, and that
the country must be partitioned: any other solution was
impracticable. The Polish delegate stressed the fact that
the Arabs too would gain a State by partition. The
delegates of Canada and New Zealand, of Holland and
Belgium, and the elequent spokesman of Uruguay
(Professor Fabregat, a member of U.N.S.C.O.P.), all
reinforced the arguments In favour of partition. The
voting on the plan should have taken place on Friday
afternoon, November 28th, but there was a last-minute
attempt to secure a postponement. The Colombian
delegate proposed that a new committee should be
appointed for the purpose of trying to effect a recon-
ciliation between Jews and Arabs and should report In
February, 1948. Thereupon the French delegate pro-
posed an adjournment of twenty-four hours for the same
purpose. The latter proposal was adopted by a majority
of 25 to 13, with 17 absentions.

PARTITION ADOPTED BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY

When the General Assembly met again on the follow-
ing day, November 2gth, a further attempt at post-
ponement was made by the Lebanese delegate, who
proposed a plan for cantonal government in a federal
unitary State* It was, as the United States delegate

214 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

pointed out, merely a resurrection of the scheme of the
Minority Report, which had already been rejected by
the ad hoc Committee. The Persian delegate then pro-
posed an adjournment till January I5th. The Chairman,
Dr. Oswaldo Aranha (Brazil), ruled that this was a new
resolution and could not be given priority over the
proposals of the ad hoc Committee. In a scene tense with
excitement he put the partition scheme to the vote by
roll-call, with the result that it obtained more than the
requisite two-thirds majority 33 States voting for and
13 against, with 10 (including Great Britain) abstain-
ing, 1 and one (Siam) absent. The General Assembly
thereupon elected the Commission that was to proceed
to Palestine to carry out the adopted plan, consisting of
representatives of Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark,
Panama, and the Philippines.

The Arab delegates promptly denounced the decision
as a violation of the Charter of the United Nations,
declared that they would not regard themselves as
bound by it, and left the Chamber discomfited and
indignant. Sir Alexander Cadogan said that he t^ad been
instructed to ask the Commission that had been elected
to get into contact with the British Government for the
purpose of arranging the details of the transfer of authority
in Palestine. It was an empty gesture, as the Commission
received no help whatever from the Mandatory Govern-
ment. Dr. Aranha, in closing the session, said that he
was convinced that partition was the best solution, and
the Secretary-General, Mr. Trygve Lie, described the
decision as the first positive achievement of the session.

Thus, after the lapse of nearly nineteen hundred years,
the claim of the Jewish people to the restoration of its

1 The voting in the General Assembly was as follows:

For Partition: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelo-Russia, Canada, Costa
Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France,
Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand,
Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden,
Ukraine, Union of South Africa, Uruguay, U.S.S.R., United States, and Ven-
ezuela,

Against Partitwn: Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon,
Pakistan, Saudi-Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.

Mstam&rs: Argentine, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras,
Mexico, United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia.

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, I 47 215

statehood on its ancestral soil had, after searching
inquiry and prolonged deliberation, been recognised
and granted by the nations of the world through their
supreme tribunal, and the hope that had upborne
countless generations through ages of oppression had
reached fulfilment, though only in one-eighth of the
area of their historic homeland. The glad tidings, first
acclaimed in the largest Jewish community on the earth,
sent a thrill of happiness and ecstasy throughout the
Jewish world. There were everywhere scenes of rejoicing
and thanksgiving, but nowhere were the manifestations
as spontaneous and exuberant as in the Land of Israel
itself, where the Yishuv danced in the streets throughout
the night as soon as they learned of the historic event.
But the jubilations in Palestine soon gave way to a more
serious and sombre mood, for the threats that had been
uttered by the Arab delegates in New York began to be
realised, particularly in Jerusalem, Tel- Aviv, and Haifa.
Attacks were made by Arabs upon Jews, who defended
themselves and fought back, with the result that many
were killed and still more injured on both sides. Unfor-
tunately the disorders and killings, believed to have been
incited by Arab mercenaries from Syria, continued for
some weeks. Anti-Jewish demonstrations also occurred
in Egypt and other Arab lands. In Aleppo many Jews
were killed, homes, synagogues, and shops were burned
down, and thousands were rendered homeless. In Aden
there were similar atrocities, in which 82 Jews were
killed; and murder and looting lasted a few days until
suppressed by British naval ratings landed from three
British warships and by troops flown to the scene from
Egypt. Meetings of the Arab League, 1 with the active
participation of that veteran plotter, the ex-Mufti of
Jerusalem, took place at Beyrout and Cairo to discuss
measures for preventing partition.

1 The Arab League, a product of British inspiration, was formed in March,
1945, at a Conference in Cairo of representatives of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon,
Transjordan, Saudi- Arabia, and the Yemen. It adopted a Pact embracing a com-
prehensive and varied programme, but its activity has been practically concerned
solely with the question of Palestine and Israel.

2l6 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

THE DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT

The decision of the United Nations formed the subject
of a debate in the House of Commons on December
nth and I2th, in an atmosphere charged with gloom
and depression, for many of the speeches were vale-
dictories to the dying Mandate. Mr. Creech Jones, the
Colonial Secretary, said that the decision was regarded
by the Government as the decision of the court of inter-
national opinion, and they wished to see the adminis-
tration transferred to their successors in an orderly
manner. The Government intended to withdraw troops
by August ist, 19483 and in order that this withdrawal
might be conducted with the least disruption of the
ordinary life of the country it was essential that the
Mandatory Power should retain control of the country
until evacuation was well under way. The date fixed for
the termination of the Mandate, subject to the negotia-
tions with the United Nations, was May I5th. As the
Government had made it clear that they could not take
part in the implementation of the United Nations plan,
it would be undesirable for the Commission to arrive in
Palestine until shortly before the termination of the
Mandate. The overlapping period ought to be brief,
and much preliminary work could be done by the
Commission outside Palestine before the assumption of
their responsibilities. Political officers to co-operate with
the British troops would be left behind until the with-
drawal of the troops was completed. After that it might
be desirable for political officers to be attached to the
various Government authorities set up, in order to assist
British interests. The Security Council might have to be
invoked if unsurmountable difficulties occurred, but it
was disturbing that the Commission would go to its task
with inadequate support for its decisions. Mr. Creech
Jones said that among the matters on which negotiation
with the Commission would have to be made were
proposals in the partition plan, in the interest of im-
migration, that an area situated in the Jewish State,

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS.* 1947 21 7

including a seaport and hinterland, should be evacuated
by February ist, 1948. If immigration traffic were
encouraged during the next few months, he feared that a
grave situation would arise that would make an orderly
withdrawal and transfer of authority extremely difficult.
He concluded by saying that Britain would lay down her
responsibilities in Palestine with relief and yet with
regret, and expressed the hope that the spirit of moder-
ation and tolerance would restore order, peace, and
harmony in the most famous of all lands.

Mr. Oliver Stanley, a former Colonial Secretary,
speaking for the Opposition (in the absence of Mr.
Winston Churchill, who had left for a holiday in Mor-
occo), said that he had long been a believer in the
principle of partition, though there were many details
in the United Nations 3 scheme with which he disagreed.
Britain's withdrawal from Palestine would be a humiliat-
ing end to the honourable role that she had hitherto
played in that country, but had the Government had a
definite and decisive policy in the last two years they
might have achieved the end which the inspirers of the
great idea of the Jewish National Home had in mind.
He stressed that Britain, as a member of the United
Nations, should facilitate as much as possible the difficult
work of the Commission, and suggested that the Chair-
man of the Commission should arrive in Palestine some
time before the civil administration withdrew, as well
as its officials, to be taught their jobs as soon as they were
available. Mr. Grossman and other Members emphasised
the need of the Commission having at its disposal an
international police force composed of contingents from
the middle and smaller powers, as proposed in the
General Assembly by Guatemala.

Mr. Bevin, the Foreign Secretary, in replying to the
debate, said that the transfer of authority involved a
great variety of economic matters, including trade and
currency, which had to be handled with very great care
to avoid economic disorder. There was no obligation on
Britain to change the immigration quota during the

2l8 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

short remaining period of her responsibility in Palestine.
He appealed to the Jews not to bring in numbers of
immigrants and thus contribute to the unrest, but to
leave the matter until their State was set up. The
Government would negotiate with the Commission about
the transfer of the immigrants In Cyprus to Palestine.
The units of the Transjordan Arab Legion which had
been serving under British military command in
Palestine would be withdrawn at the same time as the
British forces. Mr. Bevin said that the British Govern-
ment, had there been no interference from other
countries, could have solved the Palestine problem, and
"got very near to it over and over again only to have the
cup dashed from our lips" (but he made no attempt to
substantiate this latter important statement, nor could
he have done so) . He declared that it was for the Security
Council to find the force for the enforcement of partition,
and that British troops would not be available except for
an organised armed force of the Council that might be
used "for the whole international sphere. 5 ' He concluded
on a conciliatory note by stating that if the British
Government could render any assistance or advice "to
smooth out the transition, ... to promote concord,
friendship, and amity" between the peoples of Palestine,
they would do so. In fact, however, the Government did
nothing whatever in this direction.

Thus ended what was believed to be the last of the
many critical debates on Palestine that had occupied
the attention of Parliament at intervals for over a quarter
of a century. During that period all aspects and facets
of British policy in Palestine, its principles and instru-
ments, its aims, vacillations, and vagaries, and all
spheres of Jewish economic and cultural progress, were
examined, dissected, and analysed, in the light of British
promises, Jewish aspirations, and Arab protests. Now at
last there had been what all regarded as a final inquest,
some months before the awaited death of the Mandate,
the international covenant which had given Jewry such
a splendid opportunity of laying the foundations of their

THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 1947 2I

National Home, and Britain both the honour of sharing
In the revival of the Holy Land and the privilege of
discharging a mission that had ultimately proved to be
Incompatible with her policy. The great partnership of
which that wise and sympathetic statesman, the author
of the Balfour Declaration, had spoken in 1920, had come
to a close. The epoch that he had ushered in was at an
end, and a new one had begun.

CHAPTER XV

THE STATE OF ISRAEL

OBSTRUCTION TO UNITED NATIONS 5 DECISION

THE transformation of the Jewish National Home
into the State of Israel was so great an epoch-
making event that, in the light of the experience of other
nations, it could hardly have been expected to occur
without a certain amount of convulsion. But, while the
birth of the Jewish State was inevitable, the bloodshed
that accompanied it could have been very much less but
for "the British Government's inexcusable abdication of
all responsibility for the peace of Palestine, which made
war, with all its tragic consequences, inevitable/' 1 The
neglect of the General Assembly of the United Nations
to make provision for the enforcement of its decision in
favour of partition exposed the Holy Land to months of
warfare and destruction. Despite its previous assurances,
the British Government declared that it could not help
in any way in the implementation of the decision: it
would not allow a free port for Jewish immigration from
February ist, 1948, or at any time while it held the
Mandate, nor would it permit the United Nations'
Commission to arrive until two weeks before the date it
had fixed for relinquishing the Mandate namely. May
1 5th. So short an interval was utterly insufficient to
arrange for an orderly and progressive transfer of
authority, especially in face of the threats to prevent or
frustrate it. Moreover, although the Government allowed
thousands of Arabs to invade Palestine, bent upon
inciting and supporting the local Arabs in the fight
against the United Nations' decision, it continued to
prevent the landing of boatloads of Jewish refugees,

1 Mr. L. S. Amery in The Twm, August 12th, 1950.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 221

who were deported to an Internment camp in Cyprus.
This discriminatory policy provoked repeated acts of
violence by the Irgun %vai Lenmi and the Stern group,
which brought reprisals against the Tiskui) and caused an
increase of tension. The Government accused the
Executive of the Jewish Agency of failing to co-operate
in the suppression of terrorism, but the Agency, who
regularly denounced the terrorists and thwarted their
plans whenever they could, declared that they could not
co-operate with the Government as long as it based its
policy upon the violation of the Mandate.

The United Nations Commission complained to the
Security Council that they were prevented from carrying
out their duties, and that the situation in Palestine was
rapidly deteriorating, whereupon the Council began to
debate what it would do, and did nothing but debate.
The United States delegate at first argued that the
Security Council had no power to enforce a political
settlement, but only to keep the peace; and after further
discussion he announced that his Government aban-
doned partition for the time and proposed a plan of
Trusteeship for three years. This change of front caused
consternation in Jewish circles and was rejected by both
Jewish Agency and Arab States. Its effect was to re-
double the determination of the Haganah, in the absence
of the United Nations Commission, to do what it could
to enforce the United Nations decision.

AGGRESSIVE WAR BY ARAB STATES

The Jewish War of defence passed through three
phases. The first extended from November soth, 1947,
to May 1 4th, 1948, when the British Mandate came to
an end. In the early months of the fighting the British
either remained passive or else intervened by disarming
Jews, thus enabling the Arabs to continue their attacks,
and even court-martialled members of the Haganah for
carrying arms and sent them to prison. The siege
of Jerusalem began on December ist and continued

222 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

uninterruptedly for five and a half months. There were
incessant attacks upon the Jewish areas, the Old City,
and the suburbs, without any attempt at intervention on
the part of the British, who declared that they were
"maintaining law and order. 55 The Palestine Post building
was blown up, and hotels, houses, and offices in Ben
Yehuda Street were also destroyed by an explosion, which
killed 50 Jews. Some British policemen and soldiers
were suspected of these outrages, but the Government
considered that the evidence was "insufficient." More-
over, part of the Jewish Agency headquarters was
wrecked by a time-bomb, and a convoy consisting of
Jewish scholars and scientists, doctors and nurses, was
attacked by Arabs on the Mount Scopus road, on its way
to the Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University,
with the result that many were shot and burnt to death.
Haganah won its first major victory in Jerusalem at the
end of April, 1948, by capturing the Arab residential
quarter of Katamon, from which snipers had harassed
the Jewish quarters of Rehaviah and Kiryat Shmuel for
months, although British troops were posted in the
vicinity. A few weeks later the villas abandoned by Arab
notables were housing Jewish refugees from the Old
City.

In the course of the month of April, the Arab rebel
command became apprehensive of a coming Jewish
offensive and gave orders for the Arab evacuation of the
entire Sharon coastal district north of Tel-Aviv, leaving
the area between that city and Zichron Jacob clear for
the Jews. This was promptly followed by a general
Jewish offensive to mop up Arab resistance within the
Jewish defence area. This operation started on April
1 3th in Tiberias, which the Haganah quickly occupied,
and was soon followed by the capture of Safed. In the
middle of April the British evacuated several army camps
and installations in Haifa, whereupon the Jews advanced
to take control, and in a thirty-six-hour battle the whole
city fell to the Haganah,, excepting the port area, which
came later under Jewish military control. At the end of

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 223

the month the Haganah and the Irgun began an action
against Jaffa, which was held up by British troops. But
panic seized the Arabs, most of whom fled by sea and
land, and when the British Army withdrew on May 1 2th
a few Arab notables surrendered Jaffa to the Jews in
order to save it from destruction by battle* The conquest
of Jaffa put almost the entire area allotted to the Jews
by the partition plan under Jewish military control. As
the end of the Mandatory regime approached, the flight
hysteria of the Arabs spread, and all the twelve members
of the Arab Higher Committee secretly left the country.
On the other hand, only one or two small Jewish settle-
ments, faced by hopeless odds, were evacuated, while the
defenders of the Kfar Etzyon area, after putting up a
most violent and heroic resistance, were overcome by the
far stronger forces of the Arab Legion.

ESTABLISHMENT OF JEWISH STATE

The Mandatory Government anticipated the date
fixed for its liquidation by a day. On Friday, May I4th,
1948, the Union Jack was hauled down from Govern-
ment House in Jerusalem, and the last High Commis-
sioner, Sir Alan Cunningham, departed in a warship.
But as the Mandatory regime neared its death, the State
of Israel suddenly sprang into life. Realising that the
withdrawal of the British Administration without any
transfer of authority to the United Nations Commission
would involve the country in chaos and expose it to
invasion by the neighbouring Arab States, the Executive
of the Jewish Agency and the VaadLeumi decided to take
timely measures for the establishment of the Jewish State
and its organised defence. Plans had been discussed by
the Zionist General Council in Tel- Aviv in April, when
all parties agreed that the expiry of the Mandate should
be followed immediately by the creation of the Jewish
State. This momentous historic event took place at a
joint session of the Executive of the Jewish Agency and
the Vaad Leumi in Tel-Aviv, on Friday afternoon,

224 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

May 1 4th, when Mr. David Ben-Gurion, as Prime
Minister of the new State, read an impressive proclama-
tion in the name of the National Council, representing
the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist move-
ment. After recalling the series of events that had led to
the consummation of the Jewish national hope, the
declaration stated:

"By virtue of the natural and historic rights of the Jewish people
and of the resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
we hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish State in Pales-
tine to be called Israel. We hereby declare that, as from the term-
ination of the Mandate at midnight this night o*f the I4th to I5th
May, 1948, and until the setting up of the duly elected bodies of the
State in accordance with a constitution to be drawn up by a
Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October,
1948, the present National Council shall act as the Provisional
State Council, and its executive organ, the National Administra-
tion, shall constitute the Provisional Government of the State of
Israel.

f"The State of Israel will be open to the immigration of Jews from
all the countries of their dispersion and will promote the develop-
ment of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be
based on the precepts of liberty, justice, and peace taught by the
Hebrew prophets; will uphold the full social and political equality
of its citizens without distinction of race, creed, or sex, and will
guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education, and
culture. It will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines
and Holy Places of all religions and will dedicate itself to the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The State of
Israel will be ready to co-operate with the organs and representa-
tives of the United Nations in the implementation of the resolution
of the Assembly of November sgth, 1947, and will take steps to
bring about the economic union of the whole of Palestine. We
appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the
building of its State and to admit Israel into the family of nations.
In the midst of wanton aggression we yet call upon the Arab
inhabitants of Israel to return to the ways of peace and to play their
part in the development of the State with full and equal citizenship
and due representation in all its bodies and institutionis, provisional
or permanent. We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring
States and their peoples, and invite them to co-operate with the
independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State
of Israel is ready to contribute its Ml share to the peaceful progress
aad the reconstitution of the Middle East."

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, I'947~I95O 225

This proclamation was accompanied by an announce-
ment of the names of the twelve members of the Cabinet,
in which Mr. Ben-Gurion was Minister of Defence as
well as Prime Minister, and Mr. Moshe Shertok (later
changed to Sharett), Foreign Secretary. Dr. Weizmann,
who had been at the head of the Zionist movement for
nearly thirty years, was declared President of the Pro-
visional Government. As soon as President Truman was
informed of the establishment of the State he accorded
it de facto recognition, an act that was followed soon
afterwards by the Soviet Union, Poland, South Africa,
and other States.

SECOND PHASE OF WAR

The second phase of the war began as soon as the
Mandate came to an end and lasted until June nth,
when the first truce was declared by the Security Council.
Troops of the regular armies of Transjordan, Egypt,
Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, variously reported at first as
numbering 12,000 and 25,000, and later 40,000, marched
into Palestine from the east, south, and north, heavily
armed with the latest British tanks, planes, and guns,
and partly commanded (particularly as regards those
from Transjordan) by British officers. The Arabs who
fled by tens of thousands, despite assurances given by
Haganah commanders that they would not touch them
nor seize their property, were urged to do so by their
own leaders, who wished to facilitate the movement of
their troops and made them believe that they would
soon be able to return and take possession of Jewish
property.

The Arab armies at first directed their attacks mainly
against Jerusalem and the road from this city to Tel-
Aviv, but the Jewish troops offered very vigorous and
determined resistance and prevented them from making
any appreciable advance. Within a week from the
beginning of the invasion, the Security Council ap-
pointed Count Folke Bernadotte, of Sweden, as mediator

226 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

in order to effect a truce and arrange a peaceful settle-
ment. But hostilities continued for a few weeks, and it
was not until June nth that a month's truce, accepted
unconditionally by both sides, began. During the fighting
the Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem had been subjected
to a devastating siege, over twenty synagogues were
destroyed by Arab guns, and many Jewish lives were
lost. Driven by necessity, the Jewish forces had accom-
plished the astonishing feat of constructing a new road
on the hill-encumbered route from Jerusalem to Tel-
Aviv, a sort of "Burma Road, 55 which was called the
"Road of Courage. 55 In the midst of the war all the
remaining British troops in the country left from Haifa
on June 3Oth, and the city and port were immediately
taken under control by the forces of the Haganah.

THIRD PHASE OF WAR

After a month 5 s truce was over, Count Bernadotte
submitted his peace proposals to the Jews and the Arabs.
The main points were that Palestine and Transjordan
should form a single unit with an Arab and a Jewish
member; that each member should regulate its own
immigration for two years, after which each could
request the Security Council to review the immigration
policy of the other; that the whole or part of the Negev
should be included in the Arab territory, and the whole
or part of Western Galilee should be included in the
Jewish territory; that the City of Jerusalem should be
within the Arab territory, with municipal autonomy for
the Jewish community and special protection for the Holy
Places; and that Haifa should be a "free port 55 and
Lydda a "free airport. 55 These proposals were rejected
by both Jews and Arabs, and hostilities immediately
broke out again. During this third period of fighting,
which began on July gth, the Arab armies were joined
by a contingent from Saudi-Arabia. The Jewish army,
which had meanwhile been reorganised and was now
supported by an air force, made substantial gains, and

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 227

not only established Itself firmly on the territory assigned
to it by the United Nations but also took part of the
territory allotted to the Arab State. The Arab losses
amounted to 5,000 killed and wounded, and the Jews
took 5,000 Arab prisoners, 14 Arab towns^ and 200 Arab
villages. The Arab armies, which suffered from divided
and unskilful leadership, were exposed to imminent
defeat when, after ten days' bitter fighting, Count Berna-
dotte succeeded in arranging a second truce without a
time limit. 1

For several weeks the mediator then devoted himself to
negotiations with members of the Provisional Govern-
ment of Israel and with representatives of the Arab
States for the purpose of ascertaining upon what terms
he could draw up proposals for a peace settlement. He
had just despatched his Report to the Secretary-General
of the United Nations when, upon returning to Jerusa-
lem on September I7th, he and his assistant, Colonel
Serot, were shot dead. Members of a group called
"Fatherland Front 55 (Hazith Hamoledeth}> suspected of
being connected with the Stern Group, claimed respon-
sibility for the assassination, which, they stated, they had
committed because they regarded Count Bernadotte as
an instrument of British policy. 2 The Provisional Govern-
ment of Israel immediately denounced the dastardly
crime, arrested 200 members of the Stern Group in the
attempt to capture the culprits, and proclaimed the
group an illegal body. 3 They also compelled the section
of the Irgun %oai Leumi in Jerusalem to follow the example

1 The Times Middle East correspondent, in a special article, wrote; "Had the
second truce not supervened, the Arabs would have had to face the possibility of
defeat, not under pressure from the United Nations, but at the hands of the Jews
whom they had derided."

2 A few weeks before this assassination, two French truce observers were mur-
dered hi cold blood at Gaza airfield by "irregulars serving with the Egyptian
forces," and clothing and jewellery were stripped from the bodies.

3 After an exchange of notes between Sweden and Israel over the assassination
of Count Bernadotte, the Swedish Foreign Office announced on July 5th, 1950,
that the case was considered closed. The final note from Sweden on the subject
expressed satisfaction that the Government of Israel had regretted the short-
comings in the Israel police inquiry into the assassination, had accepted full
responsibility for what had occurred, and had paid to the United Nations the sum
claimed as reparation for the monetary damage borne by the U.N. in connection
with the murder (Jewish Chronicle, July yth, 1950).

228 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

set by the section within the State of Israel a few months
earlier by surrendering their arms., disbanding, and
submitting to the authority of the Government.

BERNADOTTE'S REPORT

Count Bernadotte's Report, which was addressed to
the General Assembly that met in Paris at the end of
September, 1948, was an exhaustive survey of the
Palestine question and contained specific proposals for
a settlement. The most important conclusion at which
he arrived was that the Jewish State in Palestine is a
"living, solidly entrenched, and vigorous reality,**
established within a semicircle of gunfire. The Jews, he
wrote, had given a convincing demonstration of their
skill and tenacity, and whatever the future might hold
for them the conclusion was inescapable that a Jewish
State in Palestine, fully sovereign, was actually in
existence, and that Arab determination to eliminate it
could only be realised by armed force prohibited by the
Security Council. The Arabs had made "a tragic mis-
take 55 in employing force, and had the war continued
"it would most likely have ended in stalemate, in itself
tantamount to a Jewish victory." The Report set forth
seven basic premises for a settlement: (i) the need for
peace in Palestine, (2) the existence of the State of Israel,
(3) the determination of boundaries either by formal
agreement or by the United Nations, (4) adhering to the
principle of geographical homogeneity and integration
applying equally to Arab and Jewish territory, (5) the
right of innocent people to return to their homes, (6)
special treatment for the City of Jerusalem because of its
religious and international significance, and (7) the
expression of international responsibility in the form of
guarantees.

The mediator urged that, since the Security Council
had forbidden further military action, the existing truce
should be superseded by a formal peace, or, as a minimum,
an armistice involving either complete withdrawal

THE STATE OF ISRAEL,

and demobilisation of armed forces or their wide
separation by the creation of broad demilitarised zones
under United Nations supervision. The frontiers between
Arab and Jewish territories, in the absence of agreement
between the two sides, should be delimited by a technical
commission of the United Nations along the lines of the
Assembly resolution of November 1947, but with the
following emendations: the Negev should be defined as
Arab territory, Galilee should be defined as Jewish
territory, and Haifa and Lydda airport should be
declared free ports. The disposition of the Arab terri-
tories of Palestine should be left to the Arab States, and
they might, if necessary, be included in Transjordan.
Jerusalem should be under the control of the United
Nations, but with a maximum measure of autonomy for
its Arab and Jewish communities, and with safeguards
for free access to the Holy Places and full religious
freedom. The concluding part of the Report dealt with
the plight of the 360,000 Arab refugees 1 from Jewish-
occupied Palestine, and stressed the responsibility of the
United Nations to provide for their care and resettle-
ment, even if they were able to return to their homes.

BRITAIN'S RECOGNITION OF ISRAEL

The United States Government immediately an-
nounced their approval of the Bernadotte proposals, and
the British Government promptly followed with a similar
declaration. Thus, after the lapse of ten months since
the decision of the United Nations, and over three years
since the request made by the Executive of the Jewish
Agency, Britain was at last reconciled to the establish-
ment of a Jewish State. Her tardy recognition 2 of the
Jewish claim had cost thousands of lives, the destruction
of a great deal of property, the creation of a formidable
Arab refugee problem, the internment of tens of thou-
sands of Jews, the waste of millions of pounds on futile

1 The number increased later to about 550,000 and was estimated or exaggerated
still further by the Arab League.

2 Formal de facto recognition was deferred until January 28th, 1949.

230 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

fighting, and international strife and bitterness. All these
evils could have been avoided* yet the founders of the
Jewish State, in their hour of triumph, were nevertheless
conscious of the debt that they owed to Britain for having
made possible by the Balfour Declaration of 1917 the
development of the Jewish National Home, without
which the State could not have arisen. They only
regretted that the wisdom that had inspired British
policy in regard to Jewish aspirations at the end of the
First World War had not been equally manifested at the
end of the Second.

REJECTION OF BERNADOTTE PROPOSALS

The Bernadotte proposals were rejected, however, by
both Israel and the Arab States. The latter persisted in
their futile demand for an undivided Palestine under
Arab rule. The Government of Israel adopted a firm
stand on the basis of the General Assembly's decision of
November sgth, 1947, and demanded that the frontiers
laid down in that decision should be modified somewhat
in view of the situation created as a result of the Arab
invasion and the necessity of making Israel's borders
defensible. They were opposed to the transfer of the Negev
to the Arabs in exchange for Western Galilee, as it
formed over two-thirds of Israel's territory and was
indispensable for large-scale colonisation. They also
insisted upon a territorial link between their State and
Jerusalem, which was essential for the defence of the city,
and likewise upon the incorporation of the Jewish part
of the city, as well as the inclusion of Lydda and Haifa,
within Israel. They agreed, however, to the establishment
by the United Nations of an international regime for
Jerusalem concerned exclusively with the control and
protection of Holy Places and sites.

The Palestine question formed one of the most con-
troversial problems at the meeting of the General
Assembly in Paris, which began in the latter part of
September, 1948. It was the subject of countless speeches

THE STATE OF ISRAEL,, 1947-1950 231

in the Political Committee, in which proposals,, resolu-
tions, amendments, and counter-amendments followed
one another in wearisome succession, Britain urged the
adoption of the Bernadotte recommendations; Soviet
Russia adhered to the General Assembly's decision of
November 29th, 1947; while America's original ap-
proval of the Bernadotte Report was superseded by a
declaration of President Truman, that he would not
agree to any change of the General Assembly's historic
decision that would not be acceptable to the State of
Israel.

DEFEAT OF ARAB ARMIES

When the deliberations in Paris began s Israel actually
held only a quarter of the area of the State. Central
Galilee was in the hands of Fawzi el-Kawukji's so-called
"Liberation Army" and the Lebanese forces. The entire
South was cut off. The Egyptian forces had advanced
along the coast to a point less than 40 kilometres from
Tel- Aviv, and the approaches to Jerusalem were blocked.
When a Jewish convoy ventured south, in accordance
with a United Nations resolution, it was attacked by the
Egyptians. Thereupon the Israeli air-force went into
action and organised "air-lifts 35 for the relief of the
settlements in the Negev. There was an engagement also
at sea, lasting only a few minutes, in which two Egyptian
naval units were sunk off Gaza by the young Israeli
navy. The Jewish land forces succeeded in piercing the
Egyptian front to secure a link with the settlements in
the south, and captured Beersheba 1 , the pivotal point in
the communications system of Southern Palestine.
Fighting in the north also, around the Jewish settlement
of Manara, took place as the result of an attack by
el-Kawukji, with the help of Lebanese and Iraqi troops.
But in the course of a lightning campaign of less than
three days the Jewish forces routed the Arab attack and
drove the "Liberation Army 55 completely out of Galilee. 2

The Security Council, anxious to bring hostilities to

i October sist, 1948. 2 October 3ist, 1948.

232 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

an end, adopted a resolution on November i6th, appeal-
ing to both sides to negotiate an armistice settlement.
Israel was willing, but the Egyptians renewed the attack
against the Jewish settlements and defence lines in the
south. At the end of December fighting broke out along
the whole of the Negev front. Egyptian aircraft raided
Rehovoth and Jerusalem, while Egyptian ships bom-
barded the coast near Tel-Aviv. But the Israeli forces
repulsed the attack with heavy losses to the invaders and
even carried the war into their territory, crossing into
the Sinai Peninsula and attacking various concentration
points. King Farouk's dream of a triumphant march
into Tel-Aviv was shattered. The victory of Israel pro-
duced an unexpected reaction in the British Foreign
Office: British naval forces were despatched to Aqaba,
considerable British air reinforcements arrived at Mafraq
in Transjordan, and a military post was established at
Aqaba. The reason alleged for these measures was that
King Abdullah had appealed for protection, but the
reports published at the time showed that his appeal, to
say the least, had been intelligently anticipated.

APPOINTMENT OF CONCILIATION COMMISSION

While the fighting had been going on in Palestine during
the last quarter of 1948 the General Assembly was dis-
cussing the Bernadotte proposals, but owing to the
diversity and contrariety of the views expressed the
protracted debate resulted in their being dropped
altogether, as the requisite majority could not be
obtained in their favour. The resolution that was eventu-
ally adopted on December nth, 1948, by 35 votes to 15
(with 8 abstentions) did not define the areas that should
constitute the Jewish and the Arab States. It was limited
to the establishment of a Conciliation Commission
consisting of three States members of the United Nations,
who should undertake the functions assigned to the
Mediator on Palestine and negotiate immediately with
"the Governments and authorities concerned . . . with

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, X947~I95O 233

a view to a final settlement of all questions outstanding
between them." The resolution laid down that the holy
places, including Nazareth, religious buildings and sites
in Palestine, should be protected and free access to them
assured under effective United Nations supervision, that
the Jerusalem area should be placed under effective
United Nations control, be demilitarised at the earliest
possible date, and be subject to "a permanent inter-
national regime . . . providing the maximum local
autonomy for distinctive groups"; and that "the freest
possible access to Jerusalem by road, rail or air should be
accorded to all inhabitants of Palestine." The Com-
mission elected consisted of the United States, France,
and Turkey. It was authorised to appoint subsidiary
bodies and technical experts, and was provided with
United Nations guards to protect its staff and head-
quarters in Jerusalem.

After the adoption of this resolution in the General
Assembly, the Security Council voted on the application
of Israel for admission to the United Nations. The
application, which was strongly supported by the United
States and Soviet Russia, was rejected, as it failed to
receive the requisite seven votes. There were only five
votes in favour, one (Syria) against, and five abstentions.
The British delegate gave as his reason for abstaining
that admission was premature while Israel's boundaries
remained undefined and the state of military operations
remained fluid. 1 The Israeli Government consoled itself
with the conviction that its entry into the United
Nations was now only a matter of time.

ELECTION OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

Unaffected by this momentary setback, the Govern-
ment proceeded early in 1949 to hold a general election

1 In the House of Commons debate on Foreign Affairs on December gth and i oth,
1948, Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. Eden, for the Conservative Party, strongly
urged the Government to give Israel de facto recognition and send a political
representative to Tel-Aviv. Mr. Churchill said: "No part of the Government's
policy has been more marked by misjudgment and mismanagement than Palestine."
Britain accorded de facto recognition to Israel on January a8th, 1949, and dejure
recognition on April 27th, 1950.

234 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

for the Constituent Assembly. It took place at the end of
January, on a democratic basis, with women also exer-
cising the suffrage. The total number of votes cast was
440,095, forming 86-8 per cent, of the electorate.
There were over a dozen parties and groups, and the
results (excluding groups that obtained no seats 1 ) were
as follows:

Votes Per cent. Seats

Mapai (Labour) . . 155,274 34*70 46
Mapam (United Workers) . 64,018 14*54 Z 9
United Religious Front 2 . 52,982 12-03 16
Herut (Freedom Party, form-
erly Irgun) . . . 49>782 ii*3 14
General Zionists . . 22,661 5 %I 4 7
Progressive Front . . 17,786 4*04 5
Sephardi Group . . 153287 3-47 4
Communist Party . . 1 5 , 1 48 3-44 4 3
Nazareth (Arab) Bloc . 7^387 1-67 2
Women's International

Zionist Organisation . 5, 1 73 1-17 i
Stern Group (Fighters) . 5>37o 1*22 i
Yemenites . . . 4,399 0-99 i

415.267 93-71 120
Twelve of the seats were won by women. 4

At the first meeting of the Knesset, as the Constituent
Assembly was called, held on February i4th in Jerusalem
for both historic and political reasons. Dr. Weizmann
was elected President of the State and the members were
sworn in. Mr. Ben-Gurion, as leader of Mapai, the
strongest party, formed a Coalition Cabinet of twelve
members with the co-operation of three other groups

1 The Revisionists received only 3,000 votes.

2 The United Religious Front is composed of four parties two workers' parties,
Hapoel Hamizracki (Orthodox Labour) and Poale Agudath Israel (Ultra-Orthodox
Labour), and two middle-class, Mizrachi (Orthodox) and Agudath Israel (Ultra-
Orthodox).

3 One Communist was an Arab and a Jewish Communist later joined Mapam.
* In the Municipal Elections in November, 1950, the Mapai vote dropped to 26*9

per cent., Mapam to 1 1 8 per cent., Herut to 1 0-5 per cent., while the General Zionists
rose to 25*2 per cent,, and the Religious bloc obtained 12*8 per cent.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, IQ47-I95O 2^

Religious Front, the Progressive Front, and the Sephard
group, supported by 75 members. Of the seven Mapa\
seats Mr. Ben-Gurion, in addition to the Premiership,
retained the post of Minister of Defence, which he had
held for 9 months in the Provisional Government. Othei
members of the Cabinet were Moshe Sharett, Foreign
Minister; Eliezer Kaplan, Finance; David Rernez,
Communications; Dov Joseph, Supply; Zalman Shatzai
(formerely Rubashov), Education; Goldie Meyerson 3
Labour; Rabbi J. L. Maimon (formerly Fishman) 3
Religion; Rabbi Meir Levin, Social Welfare; Moshe
Shapiro, Interior and Immigration; Pinhas Rosen
(formerly Rosenblueth), Justice; and Behor Shitrit,
Police. In the programme that the Prime Minister out-
lined in the course of a four-hour speech, at the first
meeting of the Knesset held in its new home in Tel- Aviv,
were the following important points: collective respons-
ibility to be binding on all Government members, equality
of rights and obligations regardless of creed, race, and
nationality, equality for women, foreign policy to be based
on loyalty to the United Nations Charter, general military
service, ingathering of the exiles, a four-year economic
development plan, free and compulsory education, re-
settlement of ex-servicemen, Labour legislation, and a
Civil Service appointments system based on examinations
conducted by an independent Commission.

ARMISTICE AGREEMENTS

At the same time as the organs of government were
being established and legal measures were being drafted
for the consolidation and advancement of the State,
negotiations were being conducted with the Arab States
for the ending of hostilities. The Egyptian Government,
realising the futility of further fighting, had declared
itself ready on January 5th, 1949, to negotiate an
armistice agreement with Israel, and the offer was
readily accepted. Thanks to the efforts of the United
Nations negotiator, Dr, Bunche, an armistice agreement

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

between Israel and Egypt was signed on February 24th.
Eleven days later a Jewish force, which had pushed
southward from the Dead Sea, reached the Gulf of
Aqaba and took possession of a six-mile stretch of territory
around Eylath, between the Transjordan and Egyptian
borders; and presently another force occupied Engeddi,
on the western shore of the Dead Sea* These acts were
followed shortly by armistice agreements with Lebanon
and Transjordan, and, after difficult negotiations, by
an agreement on July soth with Syria, which pro-
vided for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Israel's
territory and the establishment of a demilitarised zone
in the frontier region. These armistice agreements,
made after Galilee had been liberated and the Negev
also secured for Jewish settlement, conferred the status
of legality upon Israel's territorial position and pre-
pared the way for the opening of peace negotiations.
Iraq refused to sign an agreement, but nevertheless
withdrew her army for a "victory" parade in Bagdad.

CONCILIATION COMMISSION'S CONFERENCE

After three months of preliminary discussions with the
Government of Israel and the Arab States the Palestine
Conciliation Commission appointed by the General
Assembly convened a Conference at Lausanne, to which
both parties were invited. The Israel Delegation arrived
there at the end of April, 1949, with full authority to
negotiate a peace settlement. It informed the Com-
mission that Israel was prepared to help in the solution
of the Arab refugee problem in co-operation with the
United Nations and the Arab States, and as part of a
general settlement. It submitted draft proposals for the
final conclusion of hostilities, mutual guarantee of
frontiers, and recourse to international arbitration for
the settlement of outstanding disputes. It also submitted
proposals regarding the fixing of boundaries between
Israel and the Arab States and a settlement of the
Jerusalem question. As regards the Arab refugee

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 237

problem, Israel was prepared to arrange for the reunion
of Arab families separated by the hostilities, to guarantee
the civil rights of minorities within its territory, and to
pay compensation in respect of cultivated lands aband-
oned by Arab owners. None of these proposals evoked
any response from the Arab Delegations, who apparently
had no authority to conclude a peace but had been sent
to Lausanne merely to arrange for the repatriation of
all Arab refugees to Israel. Owing to the impasse thus
created the Conference was suspended for several weeks.
Meanwhile Israel had been admitted as a member of
the United Nations on nth May, 1949, by decision of
the Security Council and the General Assembly, and
Israel's Foreign Minister, Moshe Sharett, took his seat
in the General Assembly. When the Lausanne Con-
ference was resumed, the Conciliation Commission
proposed the appointment of a Survey Commission to
examine the possibilities of resettling the Arab refugees
in the Middle East generally as part of a scheme of
Middle Eastern economic reconstruction. An Economic
Survey Group was accordingly appointed, with Mr.
Gordon Clapp, an American, as Chairman, and Sir
Desmond Morton as British representative, in addition
to the French and Turkish members.

Before it dispersed in the middle of September, the
Conciliation Commission published the details of a
scheme it had elaborated for the establishment of an
international regime for Jerusalem and its environs.
The scheme provided for the setting up of a two-zone
international regime in a permanently neutralised and
demilitarised Greater Jerusalem, including Bethlehem
and Ein Karm, with a United Nations 5 Commissioner
as the supreme authority. It recognised the existing
zones administered by Israel and Transjordan respect-
tively, and recommended that a large measure of local
self-government be accorded to the two administrations,
but with final authority vested in a General Council
consisting of 14 members appointed for three years, and
the United Nations' Commissioner who would preside.

238 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Five members each were to be appointed by the
responsible authorities of the Jewish and Arab zones, and
two each to be selected by the Commissioner from
among the residents of the Jewish and Arab zones
respectively. The scheme forbade any immigration into
the Jerusalem area and provided that in both zones only
municipal offices should be maintained, thus implicitly
prohibiting the establishment of any government offices
within the precincts of Jerusalem. It included further
provisions for the establishment of an International
Tribunal and a Mixed Tribunal and for the permanent
demilitarisation of the Jerusalem area, thus emphasising
the international character of the proposed regime.

INTERNATIONALISATION OF JERUSALEM UNACCEPTABLE

This scheme was quite unacceptable to the Govern-
ment of Israel. Its view on the question of the future of
Jerusalem had already been expounded on the eve of its
admittance to the United Nations, and it was reiterated
at the meeting of the General Assembly in the autumn of
1949, at Lake Success, with cogency and in detail. In a
comprehensive memorandum that Israel's delegation
submitted to the ad hoc Political Committee in the middle
of November, the Conciliation Commission's plan was
rejected and the offer was made that Israel should enter
into international agreements with the United Nations
to ensure the safety of the Holy Places in Jerusalem and
free access to them as well as to guarantee religious rights.
The memorandum described the plan as "unjust and
unrealistic/' and pointed out that the United Nations
had no legal or effective authority over Jerusalem and
that auy attempt to implement the scheme would be
resisted by the local people. The reasons advanced for
Israel's rejection of internationalisation were the follow-
ing: it would break the ties between modern Jerusalem
and the rest of Israel; reduce the Jews, the majority of
the city's population, to a minority in the proposed
General Council; restrict Jewish immigration; impose

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 239

economic stagnation by decree and reduce Jerusalem
to the status of a "languishing borough"; expose Jewish
residents to attack by Arab forces; cancel the Israel-
Jordan 1 agreement; and destroy the dignity and author-
ity of the Israel Government. King Abdullah likewise
rejected the plan for internationalisation.

The British Government had already expressed its
doubts about the feasibility of such internationalisation.
In the House of Commons on April i4th, 1949, Mr.
Christopher Mayhew, Under Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, made a statement in which he said that "to
impose an international regime in a considerable area
foreseen by the United Nations would be a very con-
siderable task. It would require a very large police force
and administration. We must, therefore, have some
doubts ... as to how far the scheme of full interna-
tionalisation can in fact be worked."

The British view was expressed more definitely eight
months later, when Sir Alexander Cadogan told the
United Nations Special Political Committee at Lake
Success that Britain was opposed to the proposal for full
international control of Jerusalem. The case against
internationalisation was argued fully and forcibly by
Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr. Sharett, who pointed
out that Jerusalem, though sacred to the whole modern
world, had never played a decisive part in the life of any
people but the Jews, that Jewish Jerusalem already,
formed part of the Jewish State, and that Israel was
willing to sign an agreement with the United Nations
to safeguard the sanctuaries. The delegates of the United
States and other Governments also opposed the plan for
internationalisation. But there was a formidable array
of States who, actuated by extremely different motives,
advocated the plan vigorously: they consisted of the
Soviet bloc, all the Moslem States, and many Catholic
countries, including thirteen from South America.
It was a strange alliance of the Kremlin, the Vatican, and

1 The Government of Transjordan announced on June 2nd, 1949, that the name
of the country would be changed to the Hashimite Kingdom of the Jordan.

240 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Islam. IB the final vote in the General Assembly, on
December gth, there were 38 In favour of Jerusalem
being established as a corpus separatum under a special
international regime to be administered by the Trustee-
ship Council, 14 were against, and 6 abstained.

The proceedings at Lake Success were followed
anxiously by the people in Israel The Prime Minister,
Mr. Ben-Gurion, declared that the United Nations'
decision was "utterly incapable of implementation, if
only because of the determined and unalterable opposi-
tion of the inhabitants of Jerusalem themselves," and
that "for the State of Israel there has always been,
and always will be, one capital only, Jerusalem the
Eternal." He also announced that the Knesset (Legisla-
tive Assembly) would in future meet in Jerusalem, and
various Government Ministries would be transferred
there. In the Holy City itself, in the presence of 20,000
Jews standing with upraised right arms around HerzFs
grave, the Chief Rabbi solemnly repeated the Psalmist's
oath of loyalty: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my
right hand forget its cunning. 53 Soon afterwards the
Knesset began to meet in Jerusalem, which the Govern-
ment now regarded as its capital, and several ministries
were transferred there from Hakiryah> the Government
quarter established not far from Tel- Aviv.

It was clear that the Trusteeship Council had been
entrusted with an impracticable task, and that the
decision of the General Assembly would have to be
revised. The Soviet Union, realising the impractability
of the internationaKsation scheme, also declared its
opposition to it, and it was therefore dropped. At a
meeting of the Trusteeship Council in June, 1950, Mr.
Aubrey Eban, Israel's Ambassador to the United States,
submitted a new and elaborate memorandum, proposing
that (instead of the previous scheme for an agreement
between Israel and the U.N.) the United Nations should
adopt and implement a Statute empowering a U.N.
Authority to take effective control of Jerusalem's Holy
Places and all other related matters of universal religious

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, I947~I95O 24!

concern. When the General Assembly met at Lake
Success in the autumn of 1950, the question of the future
of the City of Peace was overshadowed by the far more
momentous issue of the peace of the world, but Israelis
new proposals had meanwhile secured the support of
a number of important States.

A Belgian proposal, however, at the end of the session,
for a four-member committee to make a further study
of the situation, was rejected by the General Assembly,
whereupon the Israeli delegation declared that this
rejection, following the failure of the Trusteeship Coun-
cil to implement the internationalisation resolution, was
"welcome evidence that the international community
did not desire to impose a regime on the people of
Jerusalem against their will."

ISRAEL'S PROGRESS AND FUTURE

The revival of the Jewish State, which had been the
dream of countless generations in all lands, has now
become a living and pulsating reality. Small though it be,
it is endowed with all the attributes and symbols, with
all the appurtenances and responsibilities, of a sovereign
power. It has not only a valiant army that has proved
the match of the combined forces of six Arab States, but
also an efficient air force and a small but growing navy.
It has a well-organised and honest police force. It has its
own postage stamps, banknotes, and coinage. It has an
able Legislative Assembly, with several rival parties, and
its own courts of law of varied degree. It has now been
recognised by some sixty States, and its representatives
take part in all international conferences. It is officially
represented by Legations and Consulates in many capi-
tals, and has welcomed the Ministers of the United
States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and many other
governments to its own metropolis. It has a national
fiscal system, and adopted a budget of 56,800,000 for
the year 1950 besides a budget of 65,000,000 for
development projects. It has brought Jews into the

a

24-2 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

country at a rate ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 a
month, and is resolved to continue bringing them
in on a large scale, until all Jewish displaced persons
and refugees, and all Jews anxious to quit lands of
intolerance, particularly Moslem territories, as well
as Jews from other parts, are safely settled within its
frontiers.

In the first two and a half years of its existence Israel
increased its population by 500,000, and now has a total
of over 1,000,000 Jews, which is steadily increasing.
Indeed, the right of every Jew to enter Israel and settle
there was embodied in a special "Law on the Return to
Zion," which was unanimously adopted by the Knesset
on July 5th, 1950. The most impressive feature of recent
immigration has been the very large proportion of Jews
from Oriental countries, particularly the Yemen, Iraq,
Persia, and the lands of North Africa. 1 A thrilling and spec-
tacular episode was the transportation by air of practically
the whole of the ancient community of the Yemen (about
47,000 souls), who regarded their flight ("Operation
Magic Carpet 55 ) as a fulfilment of the Biblical prophecy
that they would be brought back to their ancestral land
"on eagles' wings. 55 On the other hand, emigration from
the Soviet satellite States in Eastern Europe, notably
Poland, Hungary, and Rumania, has been at various times
restricted, obstructed, or prohibited, although Bulgaria
allowed the departure of over 35,000 Jews and Czechoslo-
vakia of over 22,000. Owing to 'this prodigious influx
within so short a space of time, and a large excess of im-
ports over exports, Israel has to cope with serious economic
problems which have necessitated a policy of austerity
and the securing of considerable funds and investments
from abroad, particularly the United States, where, in
addition to a credit of 1 35,000,000 dollars granted by the
Export-Import Bank, an Israeli bond issue of 1,000
million dollars is to be floated. The new State has also
to grapple with the problems involved in the adjustment

1 In the year from October ist, 1549, to September 30th, 1950, there were 97,567
immigrants from Oriental countries and 70,468 from European countries. See
Appendix III.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 1947-1950 243

and integration of hosts of settlers from regions of widely
contrasted cultural levels and social habits. There is
furthermore the position of religion in the schools,
settlements, and general daily life, which has already
been the source of more than one Cabinet crisis, and
which will call for both wise statesmanship and mutual
tolerance if it is to find a satisfactory solution. The
observance of the Sabbath and the dietary laws are
two of the most hotly debated questions, while there
are also others on which opinions are deeply divided.
Nevertheless there is a feeling of buoyancy and optimism
throughout the land, for national freedom and inde-
pendence, after centuries of oppression, help to mitigate
material discomforts and mental strains that will be
lessened with time.

Israel does not presume to claim the allegiance of Jews
in other States, nor can any Jews expect its protection
unless they become its subjects and citizens. The strong
bond of sentiment that has linked Jews throughout the
ages to- the land of their forefathers will persist and find
expression not only in the forging of closer ties, but also
in rendering the State whatever material and moral
support they can, for its success will be to them a source
of pride even as any failure will be regarded by a
censorious world as a reflection upon them all. There
was, indeed, for a time a serious discussion, among
Zionist bodies on both sides of the Atlantic, of the ques-
tion whether, after the establishment of the State, there
was any further need for the Zionist Organisation, but
it was soon realised that this still had an important
function to fulfil. The Jews of the Diaspora will continue
to maintain the Zionist Organisation, which will be
devoted, as hitherto, to fostering the national idea and
raising funds for the immigration and settlement of the
needy myriads seeking to establish themselves in their
ancestral homeland, and thus help the State whose
revenue must cover a multiplicity of other purposes. The
collaboration of the Jewish Agency with the Government
is effected through a joint representative body created for

244 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

the purpose of co-ordinating their respective activities in
the spheres of immigration, absorption, and develop-
ment, as well as to arrange financial matters between
them.

The immediate function of Israel is primarily to con-
solidate itself for the advancement of the material and
cultural welfare of all who throw in their lot with its
future, a function that it can best achieve and is anxious
to achieve if only it can live at peace with its Arab neigh-
bours. Sooner or later these must realise that their
interests too will be served by learning and adopting the
scientific methods and technical efficiency in all fields of
social, economic, and intellectual endeavour, which the
new State is applying in the furtherance of its progress.
And beyond the influence that it will exercise within its
own borders and in the lands that lie adjacent, will also
reign the spiritual influence which, nurtured from the
teachings of the prophets of old, will reach and enrich
the Jewish communities throughout the world. Closer
bonds have already been created with many com-
munities in the cultural field and also, particularly with
the Jewries of America and other English-speaking
lands, in the economic field (by investments and enter-
prises in Israel); and although there is a small and
clamant body .of opponents in the United States,
its significance is of little account and will doubt-
less become still less with the lapse of time. Israel is
bound to exercise a conservative and centripetal influ-
ence in the development of Jewish life in the Diaspora
and to form a cardinal factor in Jewish thought and
Jewish hopes in an even greater degree than was Pales-
tine in the past. But while it may mould and colour
the destinies of the Jewries of the world, it will, as a
truly democratic and progressive force in a welter of
competing polities and conflicting ideologies, make a
contribution of unique value to the advancement of
civilisation.

APPENDIX I

A ZIONIST CHRONOLOGY

1862. Publication of Rome and Jerusalem, by Moses Hess.
1870. Founding of Mikveh Israel Agricultural School.
1882. Publication of Auto-Emancipation, by Leon

Pinsker.

Founding of Rishon le-Zion.
1884. Kattowitz Conference of Hoveve Zion.

1896. Publication of The Jewish State, by Theodor

Herzl.

1897. First Zionist Congress at Basle (August sgth-

3ist).

1898. Second Zionist Congress Basle (August i5th~

i8th).
Establishment of the Jewish Colonial Trust.

1899. Third Zionist Congress at Basle (August I5th-

i8th).

1900. Fourth Zionist Congress in London (August

I3th-i6th).

1901. Fifth Zionist Congress at Basle (December

The Jewish National Fund established.

1903. Sixth Zionist Congress at Basle (August 23rd-

28th).
Offer of territory in East Africa by British

Government to the Zionist Organisation.
Establishment of the Anglo-Palestine Company

(later Bank).

1904. Death of Dr. Theodor Herzl (July 4th).

1905. Seventh Zionist Congress at Basle (July syth-

August 2nd).

Election of David Wolffsohn as President.
Transference of Zionist Central Office from

Vienna to Cologne.

246 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

1907. Eighth Zionist Congress at The Hague (August

i4th-2ist).

Herzl "Gymnasium 53 (Higher Grade School)
at Tel-Aviv opened.

1908. Palestine Office at Jaffa opened.

Palestine Land Development Company estab-
lished.

1909. Ninth Zionist Congress at Hamburg (December

1911. Tenth Zionist Congress at Basle (August gth-

I 5 th).
Transference of Zionist Central Office to Berlin.

1913. Eleventh Zionist Congress at Vienna (September

snd-gth.

1914. Transference of Head Office of Jewish National

Fund from Cologne to The Hague.

1917. Promulgation of Balfour Declaration.
London Bureau of Zionist Organisation estab-
lished.

1918. Zionist Commission under Dr. Weizmann

reaches Palestine (April 4th).

1919. International Zionist Conference in London

(February 23rd).

Zionist Central Office established in London.
Dr. Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, and Menahem

Ussishkin appear before Peace Conference in

Paris (February syth).

1920. Peace Conference at San Remo confers Palestine

Mandate upon Great Britain (April 24th) .

Zionist Conference in London elects Dr. Weiz-
mann as President of the Zionist Organisation,
and Nahum Sokolow as Chairman of the
Executive.

Establishment of the Keren Hayesod.

Sir Herbert Samuel assumes office as first High
Commissioner for Palestine (July ist).

192 1 . Twelfth Zionist Congress at Carlsbad (September

APPENDIX I 247

1922. Palestine Mandate confirmed by League of

Nations in London (July 24th) *

1923. Thirteenth Zionist Congress at Carlsbad (August

6th-igth).

1924. Opening of Institute of Jewish Studies at the

Hebrew University (December 22nd).

1925. Inauguration of Hebrew University by Lord

Balfour (April ist).
Lord Plumer succeeds Sir Herbert Samuel as

High Commissioner for Palestine.
Fourteenth Zionist Congress at Vienna (August

i8th~3ist).

1927. Fifteenth Zionist Congress at Basle (August 30th-

September gth).

1928. Sir John Chancellor succeeds Lord Plumer as

High Commissioner for Palestine.

1929. Sixteenth Zionist Congress at Zurich (July 28th-

August nth).
Establishment of enlarged Jewish Agency

(Zurich, August I2th-i4th).
Anti-Jewish outrages in Palestine (August 23rd-

29th).

1930. Report of Shaw Commission of Inquiry pub-

lished (March).

Report of Sir John Hope Simpson on Immigra-
tion, Land Settlement, and Development
published, together with the Passfield White
Paper (October 2ist).

1931. Seventeenth Zionist Congress at Basle (June

30th-~July 1 6th).

Nahum Sokolow elected President of Zionist
Organisation and Jewish Agency.

Sir Arthur Wauchope succeeds Sir John Chan-
cellor as High Commissioner for Palestine.

1933. Eighteenth Zionist Congress at Prague (August

2ist-September 3rd).

1934. Keren Hayesod obtains loan of 500,000 from

Lloyd's Bank, Limited.

248 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

1935. Nineteenth Zionist Congress at Lucerne (August

soth-September 3rd).

Dr. Weizmann re-elected President of Zionist
Organisation and Jewish Agency.

1936. Beginning of Arab rebellion (April igth).
Death of Nahum Sokolow (May lyth).
Royal Commission arrives in Palestine (Novem-

ber nth).

1937. Publication of Royal Commission's Report (July

Twentieth Zionist Congress at Zurich (August

1938. Sir Harold MacMichael succeeds Sir Arthur

Wauchope as High Commissioner for Palestine
(March ist).

Partition Commission in Palestine (May-July);
publication of Report (November gth) .

1939. Conference of British Government with Jews and

Arabs at St. James's Palace, London (Febru-

ary 8th-March iyth).
Publication of White Paper on Future Policy

(May i yth).
Twenty-first Zionist Congress at Geneva (August

i6th-24th).

1940. Publication of Palestine Land Transfer Regula-

tions (February 2 8th).

1941. Death of Menahem Ussishkin (October 2nd).
Death of Justice Louis D. Brandeis (October 5th) .

1942. British Government decides to create a Palestine

Regiment of the British Army consisting of
separate Jewish and Arab battalions.

1943. Death of Dr. Arthur Ruppin (January 2nd).

1944. Field-Marshal Lord Gort, V.C., succeeds Sir

Harold MacMichael as High Commissioner
for Palestine (October 3ist).
British Government announces decision to create
Jewish Brigade Group (September loth).

APPENDIX I 249

1945. First World Zionist Conference after Second

World War held in London (August ist-i3th).

Resignation of Lord Gort as High Commissioner
(November 2nd), and appointment of Lieut.-
General Sir Alan Cunningham as his successor
(November 2 2nd).

Mr. Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary,
announces formation of Anglo-American Com-
mittee of Inquiry on European Jewry and
Palestine (November i3th).

1946. Anglo-American Committee holds Inquiry in

Washington, London, Europe, and Palestine
(January-March) ; publication of Report (May
ist).

Military raid upon Jewish Agency headquarters
in Jerusalem and arrest of members of Execu-
tive (June 2gth).

British Government's Conference with Arabs in
London (September loth-October 2nd).

Twenty-second Zionist Congress at Basle
(December gth-24th).

1947. British Government's resumed Conference with

Arabs in London (January 27th-February
loth).

Martial law imposed on Jewish areas in Palestine
(March 2nd~~ioth).

General Assembly of United Nations, at New
York, appoints Special Committee to submit
proposals for solution of Palestine problem
(April 28th-~May 25th).

ILN.S.C.O.P. in Palestine (June i6th-July
24th); publication of Report (August ist).

General Assembly decides on partition of Pales-
tine (November 29th).

Beginning of armed Arab attacks upon Jews in
Palestine (December ist).

250 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

1948. Haganah captures Haifa (April 22nd), Acre,

Tiberias, and other places; flight of Arabs from

Palestine.
Termination of Mandatory Government and

departure of High Commissioner (May I4th).
Creation of State of Israel proclaimed by David

Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Provisional

Government (May i4th).
War of aggression against Israel by invading

armies of neighbouring Arab countries.
Count Bernadotte appointed by Security Council

as Mediator to effect truce and peace settle-
ment (May 20th); assassinated (September

i7th).
Conciliation Commission appointed by Security

Council to arrange final settlement (December

nth).

1949. Britain accords de facto recognition to Israel

(January 28th).

Election of Constituent Assembly (Knesset] in
Israel (January).

Admission of Israel to United Nations agreed
upon by Security Council and General
Assembly (May nth).

General Assembly decides in favour of inter-
national regime for Jerusalem (December) .

1950. Israel rejects internationalisation of Jerusalem;

Knesset transferred from Tel- Aviv to Jerusalem.
Britain accords de jure recognition to Israel (April

27th).
Enactment of Law on the Return to Zion (July

APPENDIX II

EXTRACTS FROM THE MANDATE FOR
PALESTINE

THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

WHEREAS the Principal Allied Powers have agreed,
for the purpose of giving effect to the pro-
visions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League
of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the
said Powers the administration of the territory of Pales-
tine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire,
within such boundaries as may be fixed by them; and

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed
that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting
into effect the declaration originally made on November
2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty,
and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the estab-
lishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
people, it being clearly understood that nothing should
be done which might prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine,
or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any
other country; and

Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the
historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine
and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home
in that country; and

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have selected
His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Palestine; and

Whereas the mandate in respect of Palestine has been
formulated in the following terms and submitted to the
Council of the League for approval; and

Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the
mandate in respect of Palestine, and undertaken to
exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in con-
formity with the following provisions; and

252 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Whereas by the aforementioned Article 22 (Paragraph
8), it is provided that the degree of authority, control, or
administration, to be exercised by the Mandatory not
having been previously agreed upon by the Members of
the League, shall be explicitly defined by the Council
of the League of Nations;

Confirming the said Mandate, defines its terms as
follows:

Article i. The Mandatory shall have full powers of
legislation and of administration, save as they may be
limited by the terms of this mandate.

Article 2. The Mandatory shall be responsible for
placing the country under such political, administra-
tive, and economic conditions as will secure the estab-
lishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in
the preamble, and the development of self-governing
institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and
religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine,
irrespective of race and religion.

Article 4. An appropriate Jewish agency shall be
recognised as a public body for the purpose of advising
and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine
in such economic, social, and other matters as may
affect the establishment of the Jewish national home and
the interests of the Jewish population in Palestine, and,
subject always to the control of the Administration, to
assist and take part in the development of the country.

The Zionist organisation, so long as its organisation
and constitution are, in the opinion of the Mandatory,
appropriate, shall be recognised as such agency. It shall
take steps, in consultation with His Britannic Majesty's
Government, to secure the co-operation of all Jews who
are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish
national home.

Article 6. The Administration of Palestine, while
ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of
the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish
immigration under suitable conditions, and shall en-
courage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred

APPENDIX H 253

to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land,
including State lands and waste lands not required for
public purposes.

Article 7. The Administration of Palestine shall be
responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall
be included in this law provisions framed so as to facili-
tate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews
who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.

Article u. The Administration may arrange with the
Jewish agency mentioned in Article 4 to construct or
operate, upon fair and equitable terms, any public
works, services, and utilities, and to develop any of
the natural resources of the country, in so far as these
matters are not directly undertaken by the Administration.

Article 15. The Mandatory shall see that complete
freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of
worship, subject only to the maintenance of public order
and morals, is ensured to all. No discrimination of any
kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine
on the ground of race, religion, or language. No person
shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of
his religious belief.

The right of each community to maintain its own
schools for the education of its own members in its own
language, while conforming to such educational^require-
ments of a general nature as the Administration may
impose, shall not be denied or impaired.

Article ^.English, Arabic, and Hebrew shall be the
official languages of Palestine. Any statement or in-
scription in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine shall
be repeated in Hebrew, and a statement or inscription
in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.

Articles 23. The Administration of Palestine ^shall
recognise the holy days of the respective communities in
Palestine as legal days of rest for the members of such
communities.

(The complete text of the Mandate is given in the
author's The Zionist Movement.)

APPENDIX III

IMMIGRATION INTO
PALESTINE AND ISRAEL

JEWISH immigration into Palestine from 1882 is
J usually divided into six main periods (or Aliyoth,
literally "ascents"). The following figures (up to the
year 1947 inclusive) are taken from Misparim, March,
1948, the Hebrew Bulletin issued by the Statistical
Department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine:

First Aliyah: 1882-1903 .... 25,000

Second Aliyah: 1904-1914 . . . 40,000

Third Aliyah: 1919-1923: 1919 1,806

1920 8,223

1921 8,294

1922 8,685
*923 8,175

Uncertificated i ,000

Total 36,183

Fourth Aliyah: 1924-1931 1924 13,892

J 925 34,386
1926 13,855

*927 3>34

1928 2,178

5.249
4,944

4,075
Uncertificated 2,500

Total 84,113

APPENDIX III 255

Fifth Aliyah: 1932-1939 1932 9,553

1933 30,327

*934 42,359

*935 61,854

1936 29,727

1937 io>536

1938 12,868
*939 27,561

Uncertificated 39,800

Total 264,585

War period and after, 1940-

1948 1940 8,398

1941 5,886

1942 3.733

1943 8,507

1944 14,464

1945 13,121

1946 17,761
m 1947 21,542

Uncertificated 1 9, i oo

Total . . . 112,512
1948 (to Sept. 30) . . , 70,000

Grand Total 632,393

From this total must be deducted 29,475, being the
number of Jewish persons recorded as having left
Palestine permanently in the period 1920-1938, accord-
ing to the Palestine Government Report to the League
of Nations for 1938. To the net total of 602,918 must be
added the following further immigration into Israel:

From October ist, 1948, to September soth,

1949 259,912

From October ist to December 3ist, 1949 . 46,672

From January ist to June soth, 1950 . . 7 2 >542

From July ist to December 3 ist, 1950 . 97>35 6
Making a grand total immigration of 1,079,400 from
1882 to December 3 ist, 1950.

256 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

TOTAL ANNUAL IMMIGRATION

1948 (Palestine and Israel) . . 1183993

1949 (Israel) .... 239,141

1950 (Israel) .... 169,898

IMMIGRATION IN 1949

(i) From European Countries:

Poland 47>343

Bulgaria ..... 20,008

Czechoslovakia . . . 15,689

Rumania .... *3?596

Hungary ..... 6,844

Germany .... 5,333

Yugoslavia .... 2,470

France ..... 1^654

Austria ..... 1,620

Greece . . . . . 1^364

Other countries . . . 5^944

Total ..... 121,865

(ii) From Oriental Countries:

Yemen 35^38

Turkey ..... 26,295

Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco . 17,924
Other parts of North Africa (mainly

Libya) ..... 14,066

Egypt 7>*45

Iran ..... 1,778

Iraq ..... 1,709

Syria and Lebanon . . . 1,570

Afghanistan .... 446

Other parts of Asia . . . 4,335

Total ..... 110,406

APPENDIX III 257

(iii) From Other Countries:

United States and Canada . . 602

South and Central America . 711

Union of South Africa . . 217

" Other parts of Africa . . 90

Oceania ..... 45

Unspecified .... 5^05

Total 6,870

Summary:

(i) ...... 121,865

(ii) ...... 110,406

(iii) ...... 6,870

Grand total .... 239,141

258 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

IMMIGRATION IN THE JEWISH YEAR 57 1

(from October ist, 1949^ to September 3Oth> 7950)

(i) From European Countries:

Rumania . . . 38,105

Poland .... 20,222
Hungary . . . .2,832

Czechoslovakia . . 1,072

France .... 1,345
Germany . . .1,916

Other countries. . . 43976

Total .... 70,468

(ii) From Oriental Countries:

Yemen .... 29,762
North Africa (Algeria, Libya,

etc.) .... 22,454
Egypt .... 9,643
Iraq .... I7>4 X 7

Iran .... 1*5813

Syria .... 1,583
Turkey .... 83084
Other countries . . .1,811

Total .... 97>5 6 7

(iii) From other parts . , . 4>734

Grand total . . . 172,769

APPENDIX IV

(A) THE JEWISH POPULATION OF
PALESTINE

/i CGORDING to the estimates made by the Statistical
\ Department of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem,
the Jewish population in Palestine at the end of 1946 was
625,000. The number of non-Jews in Palestine amounted
to 1,304,000 (including 1,143,000 Moslems, 145,100
Christians, and 15,500 Druses). The Jews therefore
formed 32-4 per cent, of the total population. The
numerical increase of the Jews during the period 1922-
1946 is shown by the following:

Jewish

Tear Total population Number of Jews percentage
1922 725,000 83,000 1 1 -i

I93 1 *,033>3 00 174,600 16-9

J 936 1,340,000 400,000 29-8

1942 1,657,000 5 x 7>ooo SJ'S

1946 1,929,000 625,000 32-4

Of the 625,000 Jews, 400,800 (64-1 per cent.) lived in
six cities, 64,200 (10-3 per cent.) in 22 urban settlements,
and 160,000 (25-6 per cent.) in 290 villages and small
settlements.

At the end of the Mandatory regime, in May, 1948,
the Jewish population of Palestine was estimated at
660,000. By the end of 1948 the number of Jews in Israel
had risen through immigration to about 750,000.

260

A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

ANNUAL RATE OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS PER
SETTLED POPULATION, 1922-1946

I 3 OOO (

Birth Rate

Tear

Moslems

Jews

Christians

1922-1937 (average)

S 1 '^

32-21

36-47

1938

47-25

26-26

34-35

1939

46-42

23-O2

31-31

1940

47-42

23-72

31-11

1941

49-22

2O-67

29-06

1942

23-38

1943

5 2> 4

29-2

3 6-6

1944

53-7

30-2

31-0

1945

54-2

30-3

32-7

1946

54-2

29-I

33-3

Death Rate

Tear

Moslems

Jews

Christians

1922-1937 (average)

26-14

10-78

15-89

1938

18-71

8-n

12-51

1939

17-38

7-57

"'53

1940

24-74

8-18

12-21

1941

21-40

7-89

II-O9

1942

8-17

1943

ig-O

7-7

11-7

1944

IT'S

7-1

10-1

1945

16-4

6-7

9'9

1946

I5'9

6-4

9-i

RATE OF NATURAL INCREASE PER I 3 OOO

Tear Moslems Jews Christians

1922-1937 (average) 25-01 21-43 20-58

1938 28-54 18-15 21-84

1939 29-04 15-45 19-78

1940 22-68 15-54 18-90

1941 27-82 12-78 17-97

1942 25-31 14-13 15-66

1943 33'4 21-5 24-9

1944 3 6 '4 23-1 20-9

1945 37-8 23-6 22-8

1946 38-3 22-7 24-2

APPENDIX IV 26l

(B) THE POPULATION OF ISRAEL

The population of Israel at the end of December, 1950,
was estimated to be as follows:

Jews . .....

Arabs (registered) . . . 165,000

Bedouin (non-registered) , . 20,000

Druses ..... 18,000

Total i,397>275

To this total must be added a certain number of
European, American, and other non-Jews.

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APPENDIX VI

THE ZIONIST ORGANISATION

Zionist Organisation consists of societies in 57
JL countries in all parts of the world. Its members are
organised mainly in either Territorial Federations or
Separate Unions. There are at present 29 Zionist
Federations, of which 14 are in Europe, 9 in America,
5 in Africa, and one comprising societies in Australia and
New Zealand. The Federations consist for the most part
of General Zionists, who, as their name indicates, do not
stand for any particular distinguishing principle within
the movement. From 1931 to 1939 the General Zionists
were divided into two groups, the A group co-operating
usually with Labour, while the B group tended more to
the Right. Since the end of the Second World War,
however, the two groups have become reunited as the
Confederation of General Zionists. In Israel the General
Zionists are anti-Labour in orientation and take no part
in the Coalition Government; but a section, who have
adopted the name of Progressives, have withdrawn from
the party and share in the Coalition.
The Separate Unions are as follows:

(a) The Mizrachi Organisation, which aims at
developing Jewish life in Palestine on the basis of
religious orthodoxy. It has a Labour section, Hapoel
Hamizrachi, formed in 1922, which seeks to combine
the doctrines of Socialism with the principles of the
Torah. It has its own Chalutz organisation in the
Diaspora, Bachad (Brit Chalutzim Datiim, "Coven-
ant of Religious Pioneers").

(*) The Union of Poale ion ("Workers of fton"}
Hitahduth ("Union 95 ), the principal Labour party,
which aims at a synthesis of Zionism with Socialism.
In Israel it is called "Mapai" (Mifleget Poale Eretz

264 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Israel] : it is a Social Democratic Party, of the same
pattern as the British Labour Party.

(c] The Left wing of Poale %ion-Hitahduth, which
seceded in 1944 and formed a new party called
Ahduth Avodah ("Unity of Labour") Poale ion.

(d] Hashomer Hatzair ("The Young Watchman 53 ) ,
another Labour group, somewhat more to the Left,
which lays more emphasis on Marxist principles. In
January, 1948, Hashomer Hatzair combined with
Ahduth Avodah to form a single party, Miflegeth Poalim
Meuhadim (^"Mapam" United Workers 3 Party).
"Mapam 33 is more Left than "Mapai": in foreign
policy it wants closer contacts with the Soviet Union
and less dependence on America, and it voted against
the Knessefs decision approving United Nations 3
policy in Korea.

(e] The United Zionist Revisionists, comprising (i)
the Revisionists, who first came into existence as a
party in 1925 and seceded in 1935 to form the "New
Zionist Organisation," and (ii) the Jewish State
Party, who originally formed part of the Revisionists
but remained within the Zionist Organisation under
a new name. The reunion of the two sections took place
in 1946 with the dissolution of the "New Zionist
Organisation. 33 Besides demanding the "revision 33 of
Zionist policy in the sense of a return to HerzFs
original conception of a Jewish State, and that it
should be on both sides of the Jordan, the Revisionists
have always been opposed to Labour and Socialist
principles.

(/) The Order of Ancient Maccabaeans, a friendly
benefit organisation in England, which was formally
recognised in 1909 as a Separate Union although it
has no distinguishing principle, and which is affiliated
to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

Besides the societies forming part of Federations or
Separate Unions, there are also numerous societies or
local groups in several lands, where the smallness of the

APPENDIX VI 265

Jewish population and geographical conditions make
the existence of Federations or similar large bodies
impracticable. These regions include India, the Straits
Settlements (and formerly Egypt), as well as places in
Central America and the Far East. In many countries
there are also Federations of Women Zionists, which
belong to the Women's International Zionist Organisa-
tion, as well as Associations of Zionist Students and an
organised Zionist youth movement.

The supreme authority in the Zionist movement Is the
Congress, which normally meets every two years, and
which consists of a few hundred delegates elected on a
party basis by the Shekel-payers. The annual payment of
the Shekel (two shillings or its equivalent) is a funda-
mental condition of membership of the Zionist Organisa-
tion. For the Zionist Congress in December, 1946, one
delegate was elected for every 8,000 Shekalim (4,000 in
Palestine) .

The Congress elects a General Council, which usually
meets twice a year, and an Executive, both of which hold
office until the next Congress. The General Council is at
present composed of 77 members of all parties, elected
in proportions corresponding to the strength of their
delegations in Congress, and of 21 veteran members
chosen in recognition of long service. The Executive (at
present comprising 19 members, with one deputy-
member) usually consists of a coalition based upon an
agreed policy: its members are attached to the offices in
Jerusalem, London, or New York, and meet together
whenever necessary.

The Congress also elects (a) a Congress Court (8
lawyers and a chairman) for settling disputes between
Zionist bodies or between Zionist bodies and individuals,
as well as for deciding on the validity of elections to
Congress; (b) a Court of Honour (10 lawyers and a
chairman) for dealing with differences between in-
dividual Zionists; and (c) a Congress Attorney (with
two deputies) to represent the Zionist Organisation in
the proceedings of these courts.

2 66 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Until 1929 the Zionist Organisation alone, as provided
in the Mandate for Palestine (Article 4), was recognised
as the Jewish Agency for the purpose of advising and
co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in
matters affecting the establishment of the Jewish
National Home and the interests of the Jewish popula-
tion in Palestine. In 1929 (as explained in Chapter IX)
the Jewish Agency was enlarged by the co-operation of
non-Zionists in a Council, Administrative Committee,
and Executive each body composed of an equal
number of Zionists and non-Zionists. The last meetings
of the Council and Administrative Committee of the
enlarged Jewish Agency took place in 1938, as, owing
to the outbreak of war, none could take place in 1939.
Since 1939 also there have been no non-Zionists in the
Executive of the Jewish Agency. Owing to the destruc-
tion or decimation of many Jewish communities in
Europe and the extensive changes that have taken place
in the geographical distribution of the Jewish people
since the beginning of the Second World War, it has not
yet proved possible to reconstruct the enlarged Jewish
Agency. The Executive of the Zionist Organisation has
therefore been carrying out all the political, economic,
and other tasks of the Jewish Agency and has virtually
become synonymous with it.

Zionism has always been forbidden in the Soviet
Union, nor has there been any relaxation as a result of
Soviet support for the State of Israel. Since the summer
of 1949 it has likewise been forbidden in the various
countries of Central and Eastern Europe that have fallen
under Russian domination, and leading Zionists have
been persecuted. Zionist activities have also been banned
in Moslem countries, especially since the United Nations 5
decision in favour of the establishment of the Jewish
State.

A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ahad Ha 5 am. Ten Essays on Zionism and Judaism. Trans-
lated by Leon Simon. London, 1922.
Balfour, Lord, Speeches on Zionism. Edited by Israel

Cohen. London, 1928.
Bein, Alex, Theodore HerzL Translated by Maurice

Samuel. New York, 1940.
Bentwich, Norman, England in Palestine, London, 1932.

Judea Lives Again. London, 1944.

Boehm Adolf, Die ionistische Bewegung, Vol. I (to 1918),
Vienna, 1935. Vol. II (1918-25), Vienna, 1936.
British Government Publications:
Annual Reports on Palestine and Transjordan to the Council

of the League of Nations., 1923-1938.
Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of

August, 1929. London, March, 1930.
Palestine Royal Commission: Report. July, 1937.
Palestine: Statement of Policy. May, 1939.
The Political History of Palestine under British Administra-
tion. Jerusalem, 1947.

Cohen, Israel, The Zionist Movement. London, 1945.

The Journal of a Jewish Traveller. London, 1925.

The Jews in the War. 2nd edition. London, 1943.

(edited by), Zionist Work in Palestine, London, 1911.

Grossman, R. H. S., Palestine Mission. London, 1947.
Crum, Bartley, Behind the Silken Curtain. New York, 1947.
Frankenstein, Ernst, Justice for My People. London, 1943.
Goodman, Paul (edited by), The Jewish National Home.

London, 1943.
(edited by), Chaim Weigmann: A Tribute. London,

1945-
Halkin, Simon, Modern Hebrew Literature. New York,

1950-
Heller, Joseph, The Zionist Idea. London, 1947.

268 A SHORT HISTORY OF ZIONISM

Herzl, Theodor, ^ionistische Schriften. Berlin, 1923.

- Tagebiicher, 3 vols. Berlin, 1923.

- The Jewish State, 3rd edition. Translated by Sylvie

d'Avigdor, revised by Israel Cohen. London,

1936.
Hess, Moses, Rome and Jerusalem. Translated by Meyer

Waxman. New York, 1945.

Hyamson, A. M., Palestine under Mandate. London, 1950.
Jewish Agency Publications:

Reports to the Council of the Jewish Agency (biennial),

.
Memorandum submitted to the Palestine Royal Commission.

November, 1936.
The Jewish Case against the Palestine White Paper. June,

Memorandum submitted to the Anglo-American Committee of

Inquiry. Jerusalem, 1946.

Book of Documents submitted to the General Assembly of the

United Nations relating to the Establishment of the

National Home for the Jewish People, 1917-19^7.

New York, May, 1947.

Joseph, Bernard, British Rule in Palestine. Washington,

1948.

Kimche, Jon, Seven Fallen Pillars. (A criticism of British
policy in the Middle East.) London, 1950.

Kisch, Brigadier Frederick H., Palestine Diary. London,

1938.
Klausner, Joseph, History of Modern Hebrew Literature.

Translated by Canon H. Danby. London, 1932.
Koestler, Arthur, Promise and Fulfilment. London, 1949.
Levin, Harry, Jerusalem Embattled. London, 1950.
Lloyd George, David, The Truth about the Peace Treaties.

2 vols. London, 1938.

Locker, Berl, A Stiff-Necked People. London, 1946.
Lowdermilk, Walter G., Palestine, Land of Promise.

London, 1944.
Nordau, Anna and Maxa. Max Mordau. New York, 1943.

A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 269

Nordau, Max, ^ionistische Schriften. Cologne, 1909.
Parkes, James, A History of Palestine. London, 1949.

The Story of Jerusalem. London, 1950.

Pearlman, Maurice, Mufti of Jerusalem. London, 1947.
Pinsker, Leon, Road to Freedom: Writings and Addresses

(including Auto-Emancipation). With Introduction

by B. Netanyahu. New York, 1944.
Rabinowicz, Oskar K., Fifty Tears of ionism. London,

1950. A historical analysis of Dr. Weizmann's

Trial and Error.
Ruppin, Arthur, Three Decades of Palestine. Jerusalem,

1936.

The Jewish Fate and Future. London, 1944.

Simson, H. J., British Rule, and Rebellion. London, 1937.
Sokolow, Nahum, History of Zionism (1600-1918), 2 vols.

London, 1919.
Temperley, H. M, V., History of the Peace Conference of

Paris. Vol. VI. London, 1924.
Weisgal, 'Meyer W., edited by, Cham Weizmann. New

York, 1944.
Weizmann, Chaim, Trial and Error (Autobiography).

London, 1949.
Zionist Organisation Publications:

Reports of the Executive of the Zionist Organisation
to Zionist Congresses, 1921-1946.

Those desirous of consulting a more extensive range of
books and documents are referred to the more com-
prehensive Bibliography in the author's work, The
Zionist Movement.

INDEX

AARONSON, SARA, 69

Abdul Hamid, Sultan, 50, 53, 60

Abdullah, Emir, 98, 99; King, 232, 239

Abyssinia, 159, 160

Acre, siege of, 15; 72, 143; gaol, 195,

196, 199

Adams, President John, 19
Aden, 215

Advisory Council, 96, 1 04
Afforestation, 172
Afghanistan, 205
Africa, East, 188

North, 84, 159, 1 8 1, 189, 242

South, 113, 204, 205, 225
Agricultural Experiment Station, 66

settlements, 66; productivity, 108, 115;
number of, 172; types of, 172

training, 176
Agudath Israel, 34, 176, 234; Poale

Agudath Israel, 234
Ahad Ha-am, 35-7, 49, 51
Ahduth Avodah, 190, 264
"Miasaf," 37
Air Force, Israeli, 231, 241
Akaba. See Aqaba
Alamein, El, 160, 168
Aleppo, 215
Alexander II, 28

Alien Immigration Commission, 51
Aliy ah (immigration "wave"), first, 31;
second, 65; third, 113; fourth, 1 13;
fifth and later, 255-6
Allenby, General, 70, 77, 78, 82
Alliance Israelite, 21
Altneulandy 51

American-British Convention, 105
American Jewish Committee, 124

Zionists and Keren Hayesod, 87. See

also United States.
Amery, L. S., 99, 149, 220
Amsterdam, 173

Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry,
99 > 185-7, 193

Conference (Bermuda), 180
Anglo-Jewish Association, 59, 73
Anglo-Levantine Banking Co., 60
Anglo-Palestine Bank, 64, 68, 89, 138,

Co., 64
Angola, 57
Anti-Semitism in Austria, 33; in France,

40-1; in Germany, 41
Antwerp, 173

Appeasement, policy of, 1 70
Aqaba, 143, 189, 200, 232, 236
Arab Agency, 104

Communists, 234

Congress, 109

Delegation, 100

Higher Committee, 140, 141, 186,

194-5, 201, 205, 223
labour, 63, 64, 65
League, 215, 229
National Committee, 81
parties, 139, 147
refugees, 229

Arabs, attitude of, 81; grievances of, 130,
1401; "displaced," 1323; re-
bellion of, 139-46; benefits from
Jewish progress, 142; political
demands of, 192
Aranha, Oswaldo, 214
Argentina, 42, 43, 113
Arlosoroff, Chaim, 136
Armistice agreements, 2356
Arrests of Jews, 195
Art, 177

Asefath Hanivharim, 97, 168
Ashdod, 199
Asluj, 200
Athlit, 69
Atlantic, S.S., 154
Attacks by Arabs, 81, 91, 99, 123, 128-

30, 140 seq.

Attlee, C. R., 183, 187, 190
Auja, 20; River, 106, 1 18
Australia, 194, 204, 263
Austria, Hoveve ^ion^ 33; Government of,

76; Parliament, 59
Auto-Emancipation, 257
Avigdor, Elim d 5 , 34
Avigdor-Goldsmid, Sir Osmond d*, 34

BACH AD, 263

Baden, Grand Duke of, 45, 49

Bagdad, 236

Bafibur Declaration, 1 7, 72-7, 82, 84, 88,

91, 99, 100-3, 123, 145, 150, 153,

169, 182, 212, 219, 230
Balfour, Lord, 71, 72, 73, 74, 80, 81, 82,

105

Balfouria, 105
Balkan countries, 166, 180
Ban on Zionist activities, 266
Banks (in Palestine or Israel), 119;

German Jewish, 138, 175
Basle, 45, 62, 190

Programme, 46-7, 56, 57, 6 1
Bedouin, 21, 65, 81
Beeley, Harold, 206
Beersheba, 200, 210, 231
Beer Tuvia, 143
Beisan, 106, 133, 163
Belgium, 213
Ben-Gurion, David, 168, 191, 224, 225,

S34> 235, 240

Ben-Shemen, 64, 66

Benjamin, Brigadier E. F., 159

Ben- Yehuda Street, 222

Berlin, 21, 34, 35, 59, 62, 69

Bermuda Conference, 180

Bernadotte, Count Folke, 225, 227-8

Bernadotte proposals, 228-30

Berne, 34

Bessarabia, 83

Bethlehem, 143, 199, 237

Bevin, Ernest, 184-5, 187, 191, 193,
217-8

Beyrout, 64, 146, 195, 215

Bezalel, 64

Bialik Foundation, 177

Bialystok, 29, 36

Bible, 1 20

Biltmore Programme, 1812

Bilu, Biluim, 29, 31, 34, 64

Bi-national state, 190

Birnbaum, Nathan, 33

Birth-rate, 260

Bluestone, Joseph, 34

Blum, Leon, 126

"Bnei Mosheh," 36

Board of Deputies of British Jews, 17, 73

Bolivia, 214

Bolzano Cemetery, 159

Bombay, 92

Brandeis, Justice L. D., 73, 74, 87

Brazil, 214

Brigade Group, Jewish, 158-9

British- American Convention, 104

British Dominions, 84

British Government, attitude to U.N.
proposals of partition of Palestine,
201-14; approves Bernadotte pro-
posals, 229; opposes Israel's ad-
mission to United Nations, 233;
recognition of Israel, 233 j attitude
on internationalisation of Jeru-
salem, 239

Brodetsky, Professor S., 191

Brody, 29

Brussels Conference, 59

Budgets, of Zionist Organisation (and
Jewish Agency), 90, 138, 151,
174-5, 191 (1946); of Israel, 241

Buenos Aires, 92

Building industry, 118, 152, 171

Bulgaria, 162; emigration from, 242

Bunche, Dr. R., 235

"Burma Road," 226

Butler, R. A., 148

Byron, Lord, 16

Byzantines, 30

CABINET MINISTERS' COMMITTEE, 132
Cadogan, Sir Alexander, 206, 210-11,

214,239

Cairo, 92, 98, 215
Canada, 194, 204, 205, 213
Cantons, 143

INDEX 271

Capital, imported into Palestine
(Israel), 135, 137-8, 175

Carlsbad, 88

Carmel Wine Co., 37

Caro, R. Joseph, 20

Cazalet, Sir Edward, 18, 29
Colonel Victor, 18

Cecil, Viscount, 77

Central America, 265

Chamberlain, Neville, 155

Chancellor, Sir John, 129

Charter, for Palestine, 49, 50, 57, 61

Chekri Ganem, 79

Chicago, 34

Chief Rabbis, 97

Chosroes II, 30

Churchill, Colonel Charles H., 1 7
Winston, forecasts Jewish State, 77;
makes offer to Emir Abdullah, 98;
rejects Arab demands, 99; issues
1922 White Paper, 100; condemns
White Paper of 1939, 149; an-
nounces formation of Jewish
Brigade Group, 158; praises Jewish
soldiers, 160; attitude to White
Paper of 1939, 181; discussions
with Dr. Weizmann, 182; dissolu-
tion of his Government, 183;
absent from Commons debate,
217; criticises Labour Govern-
ment's Palestine policy, 233

Churchill, White Paper, in, 131

Citizenship law, 107

Citrus fruit, 115, 152, 173

Civil Service, 235

Clapp, Gordon, 237

Cleveland Convention, 87

Close settlement, 106, 132-3, 142

Coalition Cabinet (Israel), 234, 263

Colleges, 176

Cologne, 22, 48, 57, 62, 92

Colombian delegate, 213

Colonial Office, 91, 98, 127, 184, 206
Secretary, 139, 148, 168, 191, 216

Colonisation department, 89

Commerce, 119, 174

Commissions of Inquiry: Haycraft, 99;
Shaw, 129-30; Royal, 141 seq,$
Partition, 146-7

Committee of Jewish Delegations, 85

Communal, or collective, settlements,
116-17

Communist Party, 234

Concentration camps, 180

Conciliation Commission, 232-3, 236-8

Conder, Colonel C. R., 17

Conferences, Zionist, in 1919, 845; in
1920, 85-8; at St. James's Palace,
147-8; at Biltmore Hotel, New
York, 182; of Arabs in London
(1946), 190, (1947), 191

Congress, Zionist, First, 46-7; Second,
48; Third, 49; Fourth, 49; Fifth,

272 INDEX

Congress, cont.

49; Sixth, 53; Seventh, 56-7;
Eighth, 61; Ninth, 61-2; Tenth,
62; Eleventh, 62; Twelfth, 88;
Thirteenth, 125; Fourteenth, 125;
Sixteenth, 126; Seventeenth, 135-
6; Eighteenth, 136; Nineteenth,
137; Twentieth, 144; Twenty-
First, 150; Twenty-Second, 190.
Also pp. 262, 265
Attorney, 265
Court, 265

Constantinople, 29, 32, 45, 49, 60

Constituent Assembly, 233-5

Constitution (of Zionist Organisation), 90

Co-operative farms, 66; settlements, 1 14;
societies, 114-5, J 74

Copenhagen, 69

Court of Honour, 265

Crete, 161

Cromer, Lord, 52

Cromwell, 14

Grossman, Richard, 187, 217

Crum, Bartley, 185, 187

Crusaders, 30

Culture, national, 49, 50

Cunningham, Sir Alan, 223

Curzon, Lord, 82

Cyprus, 51, 189, 196, 197, 218, 221

Cyrenaica, 57

Czechoslovakia, 194, 204, 205, 214;
emigration from, 242

DAIRY PRODUCE, 1 73
Dalton, Hugh, 183
Damascus, 81, 161

blood accusation, 22

Committee, 81
Darien, 154

Dead Sea, 117, 164, 173-4, 210, 236
Death-rate, 260
Deeds, Sir Wyndham, 95
Degania, 65, 66
Democratic Zionist Fraction, 49
Denmark, 214
Deportation, 189, 195, 197
Dewey, Governor, 184
Diamond-polishing, 173
Diaspora, 15, 36, 46, 89, 121, 244
Dietary laws, 243
Diplomatic greetings, 88
Diseases, 121
Dispersion, 13
Displaced Arabs, 1324

persons, 187, 195
Disraeli, Benjamin, 16
Divers, 174
Djemal Pasha, 68
"Dole'* system, 114
Dome of the Rock, 128
Drama, 177
Dreyfus, Alfred, 40

Drugs, synthetic, 163
Drusgenik, 33
Duhring, Eugen, 41
Duma (Russian), 589
Dunant, Jean H., 1 8

EAST AFRICA PROJECT, 52-5, 56

East End (London), Jews in, 51

Eban, Aubrey, 240

Economic Board, joint (in "Unscop"
Report), 198, 204

Economic Board for Palestine, 119, 175

Economic Survey Group, 237

Eden, Anthony, 233

Education system, 119-20, 176

Eger, Rabbi Akiba, 20

Egypt, 52, 69, 79, 129, 140, 148, 183,
190, 205, 215, 225; armistice
agreement with, 235-6; 265

Egyptian Government, 52

Ein Karm, 237

Einstein, Professor Albert, 126

Ekron, 32

ElAlamein, 160, 168

Election of Knesset, 234; Municipal, 234

Electric power stations, 106, 173

Elegies on Zion, 14

Eliot, George, 16

Emek. See Jezreel, Valley of.

Emigration, from Russia, 53, 59; from
Poland, 114; from Germany, 135;
from Bulgaria, 242; from Czecho-
slovakia, 242; from Oriental coun-
tries, 256, 258

Engeddi, 236

England, Hoveve %ion societies, 34;
Zionist Federation, 48; Zionist
activity, 84

"Eretz Yisrael," 96

Eritrea, 159, 160, 195

Esdraelon, Valley of, 105, 199

Estonia, 83

Eucalyptus trees, 37

Executive (Zionist, Jewish Agency), in
London, 84, 86, 88, 90-1, 147; in
Jerusalem, 91, no, 114, 117, 119,
121, 155, 166, 181, 182, 221, 223

"Exodus, 1947," 19^-7

Export-Import Bank, 242

Eylath, 236

FABREGAT, PROFESSOR, 213

Factories, 118, 163, 173

Farming, 63; girls' training farm, 65;

co-operative, 66, 115
Farouk, King, 232
Fascist persecution, 187
Fast of Ab, 95
"Fatherland Front," 227
Fawzi el Kawukji, 231
Federations, 92, 263-5
Feinberg, Joseph, 31
Feisal, Emir, 79, 80, 81, 98

INDEX

273

Fighting Force, Jewish, 156

Finland, 83

Finn, Joseph, 28

Fishing industry, 174

Flag, Jewish, 159

Flanders, 156

Foreign Affairs, 181

Foreign Office (British), 78, 98, 184, 206,

232
Secretary, 185, 191, 193

France, Vichy, 166

Frankel, Lee K., 126

Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, 2 1

Frankfurter, Justice Felix, 80

Freedom Party, 234

Freier, Recha, 165

French, Lewis, 133

Government, 73, 150; Mandate for
Syria, 81; French Delegate (at
U.N.) 213; member of Concilia-
tion Commission, 233
Revolution, 41

GALICIA, 59

Galilee, 37, 105, 143, 172, 229; liberation
of, 236

Eastern, 189, 199, 200

Lower, 115

Western, 199, 203, 210, 226, 230
Galilee, Sea of, 106
Gallipoli, 70

Gawler, Colonel George, 17
Gaza, 227, 231
Gederah, 32
Gelber, N. M., 15
Gendarmerie, 108

General Assembly. See United Nations.
General Zionists, 89, 92, 190, 191, 234,

263

Geneva, 34, 91, 195
German Emperor, 45, 49
German Government, declaration on

Palestine, 76, 166
Germany, 83; Jews of, 137; Reichsbank,

138
Ginsberg, Asher, 35. See also Ahad Haam.

Mordecai A., 23
Goldsmid, Colonel Albert, 34
Gordon, Mrs., E. A., 54

Jehuda L., 23
Gottheil, Rabbi Gustav, 34

Professor Richard, 34
Graetz, Heinrich, 22
Great Britain, Zionist Federation of, 264
Greece, 159, 160, 161
Greenberg, L. J., 51-2
Grey, Sir Edward, 71
Gromyko, M., 194, 213
Grossman, Meir, 136
Gruenbaum, Isaac, 124
Gruenberg, Abraham, 33
Gruner, Dov, 195
Guatemala, 194, 204, 205

HAAVARAH, 138
Habimah, 177
Hachsharah, 86
Hadassah, 93

Hospital, 164, 222

Medical Organisation, 121
Haganah) 167, 168, 189, 195, 221, 222,

223, 225, 226
Hague, The, 61, 151
Haham Bashi, 60

Haifa, 66, 67, 72, 106, 1 18, 140, 143, 153,
154, 161, 163, 174, 199, 210, 215,

222, 226, 229, 230

Bay, 163

Hakirya, 240

Halevi, Jehuda, 14

Halifax, Lord, 148

Halukah, 30-1, 35, 64

Halutzim, 86, 89, 113

Halutziut, 92

Hamburg, 61, 197

Hamelitz, 35

Handicrafts, 173

Hantke, Arthur, 62

Haolam, 92

Hapoel Hamizrachi, 234, 263

Hapoel Hatzair, 92

Haram al-Sherif, 128

Harlech, Lord, 78, 168

Harrison, Earl G., 184

Hashitoah, 37

Hashamer, 65, 68

Hashomer Hatzdr, 93, 190, 264

Haskalah, 23-5

"Hatikvah," 18, 151

Hatzejirah, 58

Ha-Vaad Hazmani y 97

Hazith Hamoledeth, 227

Health services, 120-1, 175

Hebraists, Conference of, 63

Hebrew, study of, 28; official language of
Zionist movement, 62; as medium
of instruction, 66-7, 1 76; official
language under Mandate, 96
University. See University.

Hebron, 128, 129

Hechler, Rev. "William, 45

Hedera, 37

Hedjaz, King of, 98
Delegation, 79

HehalutZt 93

Henderson, Arthur, 129

Hertz, Chief Rabbi J. H., 74

Herut, 234

Herzl, Theodor, early years, 40; The
Jewish State, 41-3; convenes First
Congress, 46; political negotia-
tions, 50-3 j visit to Russia, 53;
death of, 55; on synthesis in
Zionism, 61

"Herzl Gymnasium," 64

Hess, Moses, 21-2, 41

Hibbath Zion, 18, 28-39

274 INDEX

High Commissioners (for Palestine), 82,
95, ioo, 104, 1 06, 107, 129, 139,
167, 189, 192, 223

"Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden,'* 59,
66-7

Hirsch, Baron Maurice de, 43

Histadruth, 114-5, 116, 167

Hitahduth, 263

Hitler, 90, 165, 180; Hitlerism, 135

Holland, 213. See also Netherlands.

Holy Cities, 30

Places, 148, 199, 200, 226, 229; pro-
posed international regime for
protection, 230, 233, 237-40;
Moslem, 130

Hong Kong, 108

Hospitals, 121, 176

Hovem ion, 28-39, 48, 63

Hubermann, Bronislaw, 177

Hulda, 66, 169

Huleh, 133, 163

Hungary, 242

Hussein, Sherif of Mecca, 79, 98

Husseini, Jamal, 202

Hydro-electric station, 106

IBERIAN PENINSULA, 166

"I.C.A." See Jewish Colonisation Associa-
tion.

Ideology, 120

"Illegal immigrants,'* 189, 197

Imber, Naphtali H., 18, 151

Immigration, limitation of (by 1922
White Paper), 101; regulation of,
in is; fluctuation in, 113-14;
increase in 1932-5, 134-5; pro-
posed restriction (1937), 142-44;
White Paper (1939) restrictions,
148-9; "illegal," 153-55; applica-
tion for 100,000 certificates, 184;
measures against, 186; from Orien-
tal countries, 242; statistics, 254-7

Immigration Office, in Jerusalem, 86

India, 194, 265

Indian troops, 169

Industries, 118, 163-4, 173-4

Institute of Jewish Studies, 1 76

International Court of Justice, 212
Refugee Organisation, 212

Internment, 229

Iran, 194. See also Persia.

Iraq, ban on Zionism, 84; 140, 148, 165,
190, 205, 215, 225, 242

Irgun ZoaiLewii, 1 86, 188, 195, 196, 221,
223, 227

Isaiah, 95

Israel, establishment of, 223-5; applica-
tion for admission to United
Nations, 233; admitted to United
Nations, 237; attitude to inter-
nationalisation of Jerusalem, 238-
9; budget, 241

Istanbul, 154

Italy, 1 59; King of, 54
"I.T.O." See Jewish Territorial Organi-
sation.
"Itoists," 57, 58

JABOTINSKY, VLADIMIR, 70, 125, 136, 137

Jacobson, Victor, 34, 60, 62

Jaffa, 37, 62, 64, 99, 140, 143, 199, 203,
223

Jamal Husseini, 202

Jassy, 151

Jastrow, Rabbi Marcus, 34

Jehuda Halevi, 14

Jerusalem, prayers for restoration, 13;
anti-Jewish demonstrations, 81,
215; Mayor of, 97; siege of, 221-2,
226; proposed United Nations
control, 229; raided by Egyptian
aircraft, 232; proposed interna-
tional regime, 237-8; proposed
Statute for control, 240

Jewish Agency, no; extension of, 123-7;
Council of, 126-7, 138, 145; raid
on headquarters, 222; constitution
of, 265-6

Jewish Chronicle, 227

Jewish Colonial Trust, 48, 53, 54, 60, 63
Colonisation Association, 43, 52, 63,

115

National Fund, establishment of, 50;
propaganda in Tsarist Russia, 59;
office in Cologne, 62; provides site
for school, 64; stamps, 68; office
in The Hague, 69; organ of land
policy, 86, 87; transfer of office to
Jerusalem, 89; provides land for
settlements, 116; functions of, 117;
relation to Jewish Agency, 126,
127; land acquisition in 1939-45,
163; extent of land possessions,
1 72; total income, 1 75

Jewish State, The (pamphlet), 41, 63

Jewish State, area of proposed, 210
State Party, 136-7, 264
Territorial Organisation, 567

Jezreel, Valley of, 66, 89, 115, 143, 172,
189

Johannesburg, 92

Johnson, Heischel, 203, 213

Joint Palestine Survey Commission, 125

Jones, A. Creech, 201-2, 204, 206, 216

Jordan, River, 106, 118, 153

Kingdom of, 239. See also Transjordaru
Valley, 133

Joseph, Dov, 235

Judaea, Roman destruction of, 13, 14;
172

Judaeans, the, 70

Julian the Apostate, 30

"KADIMAH," 33, 44
Kadoorie, Sir Ellis, 108
Kahn, Zadoc, 34
Kalischer, Rabbi Z. Hirsch, 20-1

Kann, Jacobus, 48, 62

Kaplan, Eliezer, 191, 235

Katamon, 222

Katra, 32

Kattowitz Conference, 32

Kenya, 195

Keren Hayesod, 87, 90, 116, 117, 119;

relation to Jewish Agency, 127;

172; total raised, 174
Kfar Avodah, 1 72
Kfar Etzyon, 223
Kharkov Conference, 54
Kharkov University, 29
Kibbutz, 172
King David Hotel, 188
Kinnereth, 65
Kiryat Shmuel, 222
Kisch, Brigadier Fredk. H., 160
Kishinev, 52

Knesset, 234-5; transfer to Jerusalem, 240
Kook Institute, 1 77
Kremlin, 239
Kuneitra, 161

Kupath Holim, 121, 1 75, 1 76
1 1 6, 172

INDEX 275

Library, Jewish National and University,

120, 176
Libya, 159
Lie, Trygve, 214
Ligne, Prince de, 15
Literature, 177
Lithuania, 83
Liturgy, 13
Lloyd George, David, 70-2, 75, 77, 79,

82, 132

Loans, for Palestine, 108, 134
Locker, Berl, 191
Locust plague, 69
London, 49, 50
Losses in war, 162
Louis XIV, 15
Lucerne, 137
Lueger, Karl, 41
Lurie, Joseph, 34
Lydda, airport, 210, 226, 229, 230

LABOUR, JEWISH, 112; depression, 114
parties, 89, 190; schools, 120
Department, 114
Exchanges, 115
Labour Government (British), 183;

Party, 183

Laharanne, Ernest, 18
Lake Success, 201, 240. See also United

Nations.
Land, purchases of, 89; transfer restric-

tions, 144, 149, 153, 187; growth

of Jewish land possessions, 172
Langallerie, Marquis de, 15
Language, in schools, 66
Language Board, 1 76
Language conflict, 67
Lansdowne, Lord, 52
Latrun, 188
Latvia, 83

Lausanne, Conference, 236-7
Law on Return to Zion, 242
Lawrence, T. E., 79, 98
Lazarus, Emma, 19
League of Nations, 80, 85, 91, 102, 104,

133, 136, 143, 144-5, H8 ? 150
Lebanon, 162, 190; delegate of, 213; 215,

225; signs armistice agreement,

236

Lebensohn, Abraham, 23
Legations, 241
Legislative Assembly (Knesset), 241

Council, 100, 103, 139
Levanda, Judah L., 28
Levin, Rabbi Meir, 235

Shmarya, 34, 62
Levinsohn, Isaac Beer, 23
^Liberation Army," 231

MAAVARAH, 172
Maccabaeans, 43
MacDonald, Malcolm, 148

Ramsay, 131

MacMichael, Sir Harold, 167
Mafraq, 232

Maimon, Rabbi J. L., 235
Malaria, 121
Malcolm, James, 72
Malta, 129, 140
Mamelukes, 30
Manara, 231
Manchester Guardian, 70
Manchester University, 70
Mandate for Palestine, 82; its primary

purpose, 83; ratification of, 102;

interpretation of, 149-50; end of,

223; text of, 251-3
Mandates Commission (Permanent), 91,

104, 131, 145, 149, 153, 168
Mandelstamm, Dr. Max, 29
Manufactures, 118
Mapai, 190, 234-5, 263
Mapam, 190, 234, 264
Mapu, A., 23
Marmora, Sea of, 154
Marshall, Louis, 124, 125, 127
Martial law, 195
Martin, John, 206
Marx, Karl, 21
Marxism, 93, 264
Maskilim, 235

Mauritius Island, 154, 155, 159
McMahon, Sir H., 79, 99
Medical services, 121
Mehemet Ali, 1 7
Meir, Chief Rabbi Jacob, 60
Melchett, Lord, 119, 126, 127
Mendelssohn, M., 23
Mendes, Pereira, 34
Merhavia, 66
Messiah, 14, 44

276

INDEX

Messianic doctrine, 44

Metullah, 81

Meyerson, Goldie, 235

Middle East, 181

Mikveh Israel, 21

Military Administration, 81, 95

Military arms trials, 167

Military services of Jews, 15662

Millenarians, 14

Miller, D. Hunter, 79

Mills, 1 1 8, 163

Milner, Lord, 80

Milos, 154

Mineral deposits, 117, 1 73

Ministry of Information, 76

Minority rights, 85

* 'Mission of Judaism, 3 * 36

Mizrachi, 58, 89, 91, 92, 120, 190, 191,

234, 263
Mohilever, Rabbi Samuel, 28-9, 31, 32,

36

Mond, Sir Alfred, 119
Mongols, 30
Montagu, Edwin S., 74
Montefiore, Sir Moses, 16, 17, 20, 32
Montgomery, Field-Marshal, 160
Morrison, Herbert, 149, 183, 188
Morrison Plan, 188-9
Morton, Sir Desmond, 237
Moser, Jacob, 64
Moshav Olim, 172

Qwdim, 116-17

Shitufi, 172
Moshava, 116
Moslem community, 97

Council, Supreme, 98, 129, 142,
146

countries, ban on Zionism, 266
Mosque of el-Aksa, 128

of Omar, 1 29
Motor transport, 118
Motzkin, Leo, 34, 85
Mount Carmel, 115

Scopus, 78, 222
Mufti of Jerusalem, 97, 129, 130, 142,

146, 215
Munich, 45

Municipal elections, 107, 234
Museum of Archaeology, 176
Music, 177

NAIROBI, 52

Napoleon Bonaparte, 15

III, 1 8

Nathanyah, 196
National anthem, 151

Council (of Israel), 224

Councils, Jewish (in Europe), 224

Defence Party, 147

Home, Jewish, definition of, 75, 101
Nationality law, 102
Nautical institutions, 161, 176
Navy, Jews in, 161; Israeli, 231, 241

Nazareth, 143, 233

bloc, 234
Nazi Germany, 140, 166

invasion, 152

persecution, 135, 153-4, l6 5> *86, 187
Negev, 1 88, 189, 199, 210, 226, 229, 230,

231, 232, 236
Netherlands, 194
Netter, Charles, 21
New Freie Presse, 40, 43, 46
Neumann, Dr. Emanuel, 206
New Judaea, The, 92
New York, 19,34, 92
New Zealand, 204, 213, 263
New Zionist Organisation, 137, 190, 264
Newspapers, 177
Niemirower, Rabbi Dr., 61
Noah, Mordecai M., 19
Noel-Baker, Philip, 149, 183
Nordau, Max, 43, 46-7, 54, 62, 86
Novelists, 177
Novomeysky, M., 174
Nuri Pasha, General, 141

OCCUPIED ENEMY TERRITORY ADMINIS-
TRATION, 78

Odessa, 28, 29, 33, 35

Odessa Committee, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 63

"Ohel," 177

Oil pipe-line, 140

Oliphant, Laurence, 18, 29, 31

Omar, Caliph, 30

"Operation Magic Carpet," 242

Oppenheimer, Franz, 66

Order of Ancient Maccabaeans, 264

Oriental countries, 242; emigration from,
256, 258

Ormsby-Gore, W., 78, 168

Ottoman Government. See Turkish Gov-
ernment.

Outrages, Arab. See Attacks.

Oxford, Lord, 71

PACIFIC, 154
Pakistan, 204
Palestine Economic Corporation, 119,

i?5

Electric Corporation, 118
Exploration Society, 18
Office, Jaffa, 62, 65
Land Development Co., 65
Palestine Post, 222
Palmerston, Lord, 17
Panama, 204, 214
Parachutists, 162
Paris, 50, 80, 85, 87

Parliament, debates in: (1922), 100, 101;
(1930), 132; (1937), 144; (I939),
149; (December 1947), 216-18;
(December, 1948), 233
Parties, Jewish political, 234
Partisan missions, 162
Partition of Palestine: scheme of Royal
Commission, 143-6; report of

INDEX

277

Partition Commission, 1467; pro-
posals of U.N.S.C.O.P., 197-200,
204; plan adopted by United
Nations, 207-13

Passfield, Lord, 131
White Paper, 131-2

Patent processes, 173

Patria, 154

Paulli, Oliger, 15

Peace Conference (1919), 79-80, 82, 84

Pearlman, M., 98

Peel, Earl, 141

Persecution of Zionists, 266

Persia, 113, 242; delegate of, 214. See
also Iran.

Persians, 30

Peru, 194

Petah Tikvah, 31

Philadelphia, 34

Philharmonic Orchestra, 177

Philippines, 214

P.I.C.A., 115, 119

Pilgrimages, 14

Pinsker, Leon, 25-7, 28, 32, 33, 41, 42
Simha, 26

Plantations, fruit, 115

Plehve, Von, 53, 60

Plumer, Lord, 107-9

Poale Zion, 58, 91, 92, 93, 263, 264

Poets, 177

Pogroms, Russian, 19, 28, 52, 59, 65

Poland, 83, 151, 204, 205, 225; delegate
of, 213; emigration from, 242

Police, Palestine, 108, 158

"Political high level," 142, 144

Political parties, 234
Zionists, 57

Pope Pius X, 54

Population, Jewish, of Palestine, 29; in
seventh century, 30; in nineteenth
century, 38; in 1925, 106; in
1929 and 1948, 171; 1922-48,259;
of Jewish State, 210, 242, 261

Port Arthur, 69

Ports, 174

Portugal, 150

Poultry-breeding, 115

Practical Zionists, 57-8

Prague, 88

Prayers for Zion, 13

Preparation Fund, 87

President Warfield, S.S., 196

Presidential Election, 184

Press, Zionist, 92; Hebrew, 177

Prime Minister's (Ramsay MacDonald's)
Letter, 132

Problem, solution of Jewish, 198, 203

Progressive Front, 234-5, 263

Prophecies, Biblical, 75

Protest-Rabbiner, 44

Provisional Government (of Israel),
224-5

Pseudo-Messiahs, 14

Public Debt (of Palestine), 144
Publishing firms, 37

QUARTERLY REVIEW, 17
"Quest of Zion/' 51

RABBINICAL COUNCIL, 97

Rabbi, Chief, of Palestine, 1 77; of Israel,

240

Rabinowicz, O. K., 61
Rabinowitz, Saul P., 28, 32
Rabbis, German, 45
Radical Party, 124
Raid upon Jewish Agency Offices, 188
Ramath Gan, 163, 196

Hakovesh, 169
Ramleh, 153
Ras-el-Nakura, 143
Red Cross, International, 18
Red Sea, 165
Refugees, Jewish, 153-4, J 59> ^3? 164,

165, 166, 195, 220; Arab, 229,

236-7
Regiment, Jewish (in First World War),

7
Rehaviah, S22

Rehovoth, 36, 165, 232
Religious Front, United, 234, 235

laws, 89; observance, 120, 243
Remez, David, 235
Reorganisation Commission, 88
Research Institute, Daniel SiefT, 165
Resistance movement, 94
Restoration, advocates of, 15-27
Restoration Fund, 87
Revisionists, 125, 136-7, 186, 190;

secession of, 137, 264; votes in

Knesset election, 234
Revolution, in Russia, 65
Riots. See Attacks.
Rishon le-Zion, 31, 37
"Road of Courage, 1 ' 226
Romans, 13, 29, 30
Rome, 54

Rome and Jerusalem) 22
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 184
Rosen, Pinhas, 235
Rosh Pinah, 31

Rothschild, Baron Amschel Mayer, 20
Baron Edmond de, 32, 37, 45, 63, 115,

116

Lord (first), 51
Lord (Walter), 74
Rumania, Jews of, 31; Hoveve ion, 33;

refugees from, 154; emigration

from, 242

Ruppin, Arthur, 62, 65
Russia, Tsarist: persecution in, 26, 28;

pogroms, 52, 59; ban on Zionist

activity, 53, 266; Zionist progress,

58
Soviet, 71; isolation of Jews, 83; ban

on Zionism, 84; negotiations with,

278

INDEX

Soviet cont.

165; in United Nations, 205;
supports partition, 204.; recognises
Israel, 225; supports Israel's ad-
mission to United Nations, 233;
attitude to internationalisation of
Jerusalem, 240

Rutenberg, P., 106, 117, 118, 173

SABBATH OBSERVANCE, 243

Sacrifices, revival of, 20

Safed, 30, 31, 129, 161, 222

Salonika, 60, 174

Salvador, Joseph, 18

Salvador, 154

Samaria, 37, 172, 199

Samarin, 31, 32

Samuel, Viscount (Herbert), first meet-
ing with Dr. Weizmann, 70; sub-
mits memorandum on Palestine to
Cabinet, 71; forecasts Jewish self-
government in Palestine, 77;
appointed High Commissioner,
82; administers Palestine, 95
107; addresses Jewish Agency
Council, 126
Sir Stuart, 73, 74

San Remo, 82

Sandstroem, Judge E., 194

Saracens, 30

Saudi Arabia, 148, 190, 215, 226

Schools before First War, 66; after First
War, 119-20; under Vaad Lettmi,
176

Schulman, Caiman, 23

Scott, C. P., 70

Security, absence of, 168

Security Council, 206, 207, 210, 216,
218, 225, 226-7-8, 231, 233

Self-taxation, 90

Seljuk Turks, 30

Separate Union, 91, 263, 264

Sephardi Group, 234, 235

Sephardim, 97

Serot, Colonel, 227

Settlements, early, 31; close settlement,
1 06; collective, 116

Shaftesbury, Lord, 16-17

Shanghai, 92

Shapiro, Moshe, 235

Sharett, Moshe, 225, 235, 237, 239. See
also Shertok, M.

Sharon, Plain of, 172, 222

Shatzar, Zalman, 235

Shaw Commission's Report, 129-30

Shekel, 47, 59, 137

Shekel-payers, 89, 91, 190, 265

Shertok, M., 191, 205, 206. See also
Sharett.

Shield of David, 159

Shipping companies, 174

Ships with "illegal" immigrants, 196-7

Shipyards, 174

Shitrit, Behor, 235

Skulchan Aruch, 20

Siam, 214

Siberia, 113

Silver, Rabbi Dr. A. Hillel, 191, 202-3

Simpson, Sir J. Hope, 131

Sinai Peninsula, 51-2, 232

Singapore, 92

Slovakia, 162

Smolenskin, P., 23, 33

Smuggling of Arms, 167

Smuts, General, 132

Snell, Lord, 130

Socialism, 58, 65, 92, 263

Sokolow, Nahum, History of Zionism, 15;
General Secretary, 58; resignation
as General Secretary, 62; member
of Zionist Executive, 62; co-opera-
ates in negotiations for Balfour
Declaration, 72-74; at Peace Con-
ference (1919), 80; at San Remo
Conference, 82; Chairman of
Zionist Executive, 86; President of
Zionist Executive, 91; President of
Zionist Organisation and Jewish
Agency, 136; Hon. President of
Zionist Organisation, 138

SolelBoneh, 174

Soviet bloc, 239
Union. See Russia, Soviet.

Spire, Andr6, 80

St. James's Palace Conferences, 147

Stanley, Oliver, 217

State lands, 106

Stern group, 186, 195, 221, 227, 234

Stolypin, 60

Straits Setdements, 265

Strikes, 114

Struma, 154-5

Students, 33, 34, 44, 113; Association of
Zionists, 265

Suez Canal, 22

Sweden, 194; Swedish Foreign Office,
227

Sykes, Sir Mark, 72

Sykes-Picot Agreement, 72

Symphony Orchestra, 177

Synthetic Zionism, 61

Syria, 69, 79, 98, 140, 159, 162, 183, 190,
215, 225, 233; signs armistice
agreement, 236

Syrian Delegation (at 1919 Peace Con-
ference), 79

Szold, Rabbi Benjamin, 34

Szold, Miss Henrietta, 34, 165

TALAAT PASHA, 76

Talmud, 120

Tantura, 153

Technical Institute (Haifa), 67, 120,

164

Technical training, 176
Teheran, 165

Tel-Aviv, founding of, 65, 68, 69, 106,
113; population (1929), 118; 136,
161; population (1948), 171; port,
174; I95> 196, 199, 215, 222, 223,
232, 235

Tel Hai, 81

Temple of Jerusalem, 13, 15

Territorial Federations, 263

Terrorism, Arab, 128-9, 140 seq.i
Jewish, 1 86, 195

Theatres, 177

Tiberias, 143, 222

Tiberias, Sea of, 65, 66

Times, The, 73, 79, 132, 161, 227

"Tnuvah," 173

Torah, 263

Trachoma, 121

Trade Unions, 114-15

Transjordan, 70, 97, 98-9, 103, 143, 148,

190, 215, 225, 226, 229, 236
Arab Legion, 218
Frontier Force, 108

Trials, military, 167-8

Tripoli, 162

Tropical diseases, 164

Truce, 226, 227

Truman, President, 184, 190, 225, 231

Trumpeldor, Joseph, 69, 81

Trusteeship agreement, 187
Council, 192, 199, 209, 240, 241

Tsarapkin, M., 204
' Tsardonij 65

Tschlenow, Yechiel, 62, 72, 84

Tunisia, 159, 160

Turkey, Sultan of, 45, 50; Revolution in,
60-61 ; Peace Treaty with, 82; ban
on Zionism, 84

Turkish Government, 61, 68, 154, 165;
declaration concerning Palestine,
76; member of Conciliation Com-
mission, 233

Turks, Ottoman, 30

"Tushiyah," 37

Typhus, 164

UGANDA, 53

United Nations, 192-3; discussion of
U-N.S.C.O.P.'s Report, 201-14;
decision in favour of partition of
Palestine, 2145 Secretary-General
of, 227

General Assembly, April, 1947, 194;
Political Committee and General
Assembly, September-November,
1947, 201-14; September, 1948,
230-3; autumn, 1949, 238-9;
autumn, 1950, 241
Special Committee on Palestine
(U.N.S.C.O.P.), 1 94 seq.-, Majority
Report, 197-95 Minority Report,
I 99200

United States, emigration to, 28; Hoveve
Zj,on societies, 34; Zionist Organisa-

INDEX 279

tion, 48, Congress, 76; Hadassah,
93; Congress resolution on Jewish
National Home, 105; Convention
with Britain, 105; American
Jewry's participation in Jewish
Agency, 124-7; at United Nations,
203-4, 205, 213-14; proposes plan
of Trusteeship, 221; supports
Israel's application for admission
to United Nations, 233; member
of Conciliation Commission, 233;
bonds with Israel, 244

United Zionist Revisionists, 1 90, 264

University, in Jerusalem, 18, 50, 63, 78;
inauguration of, 105; faculties of,
120; 164, 176, 222

Urban developments, 118

Uruguay, 194, 204, 205, 213

Ussishkin, Menahem, Chairman of Hoveve
ZJon, 33; opposition to East Africa
scheme, 54; leader of Russian
Zionists, 62; at Peace Conference
of 1919, 80; member of Zionist
Executive, 91; President of Con-
gress, 151

VAAD LEUMI^J, no, 155, 158, 176, 195,

223

Vambery, Arminius, 50
Vegetable-growing, 173
Venezuela, 205

Vienna, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 43, 45, 54, 62
Vilna, 28, 33, 53, 58
Vine-growing, 37, 38
Volunteers, registration of, 155

WADI EL-ARISH, 52

"Wailing Wall." See Western Wall.

Wakf, 128; Committee, 146

War, First World, 67, 68-70
Second World, 152-68, 266
Jewish, of defence, 221-7

War Cabinet, 132

Warburg, Felix, 126, 127
Otto, 62

Warren, Sir Charles, 17

Warsaw, 28, 93

Wassermann, Oscar, 126

Watchmen, 65

Wavell, Field-Marshal, 159, 160

Webb, Sidney, 129. See also Passfield,
Lord

Weizmann, Chaim, member of students*
society, 34; leader of Democratic
Zionist Fraction, 49-50; on
synthesis in Zionism, 61; advo-
cates Hebrew University, 63; lec-
turer at Manchester University,
70; negotiations for Balfour De-
claration, 70-4; process for mak-
ing acetone, 71; Director of Ad-
miralty Laboratories, 71; head of
Zionist Commission, 77; meets

INDEX

Weizmann, Chaim cont.

Feisal at Aqaba, 78-9; signs agree-
ment with Feisal, 79; at Peace
Conference, 80; at San Remo, 82;
elected to Zionist Executive, 84;
President of Zionist Organisation,
86, 91; activities for extension of
Jewish Agency, 124-7; resignation
of, 132, 135-6; re-elected Presi-
dent of Zionist Organisation, 138;
arraigns British Government, 1 50;
letter to Prime Minister Chamber-
lain, 155; founder of Sieff Re-
search Institute, 165; advocates
Jewish State, 181; submits Mem-
orandum to Prime Minister
Churchill, 182; submits statement
to U.N.S.C.O.P., 194; addresses
United Nations, 205; President of
Provisional Government, 225; Pre-
sident of Israel, 234

Welt, Die, 45, 62

Western Desert, 160

Western Wall, 128-9

White Papers: Churchill (1922), 79, 100-
1 01 , 1 1 1 ; on Western Wall, 1 28-9;
Passfield (1930), 131; MacDonald
(1939), 88, 148-51, 181

William II (German Emperor), 49
III (of England), 15

Wilson, President Woodrow, 73, 76, 77
Sir H. Maitland, 161

Wine-cellars, 37
trade, 118

Wise, Rabbi Aaron, 34
Rabbi Dr. Stephen, 34

Witte, M., 53

Wolffsohn, David, 48, 57-61
Women's International Zionist Organisa-
tion, 20, 93, 176, 234, 265
Woodhead, Sir John, 147
Workshops, 173

YARMUK, RIVER, 106

Yemen, 148, 190, 205, 215, 242

Yemenite Jews, 64

Yemenites (political party), 234

Yesod Hamaalah, 31

Young Turks, 60

Youth Aliyak, 165

movement, 93
Yugoslavia, 162, 194

ZANGWELL, ISRAEL, 43, 56-7

"Zeire Zion," 92

Zichron Jacob, 32, 69, 222

Zion Mule Corps, 69, 70

Zionism, origin of term, 33; Spiritual and
Cultural, 36; Synthetic, 61

Zionist Bulletin, The, 92

Zionist Central Office in Vienna, 47;
transference to Cologne, 57; trans-
ference to Berlin, 62; established
in London, 84

Commission (1918), 77-8, 84, 87
Organisation, establishment of, 47;
relation to Jewish Agency, 126-7;
future need of, 243; composition
and constitution, 263-6

Zurich, 126, 128, 144, 201

1 30 348